Fellows from ARPO's first Earthlore Fellowship cohort took part in Living Roots Originals, a national songwriting and music production programme run by the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) with the support of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India. The first-of-its kind initiative is aimed at giving tribal musicians legal rights over their original compositions and handholding them to the professional music world of royalties.

The programme's first residential camp was held from 3 to 7 August 2026 at Studio Vibrations, Kolkata. It brought together 25 tribal artists from eight communities across five states — the Jenu Kuruba and Paniya of Wayanad, the Chakhesang Naga of Nagaland, the Ho of Jharkhand, the Gond, Mahara and Madia of Chhattisgarh, and the Koch-Rajbanshi of North Bengal.

The participants from the Earthlore team were Suraag Sankar, Mini Kanavu, Bindu Irulam, Prasad K, Aparna Raj, Shyni, and Maneesh Mari. ARPO also invited Sindhu M, a poet from Paniya community in Wayandu as a team member for the camp.

Many of them have already written and composed original songs for films and music videos, but none of them have been given royalties.

Over five days, they co-created original songs rooted in their own languages, traditions and instruments, mentored by senior musicians. Authorship and rights of the songs will be formally assigned to the artists and communities who made them. All the musicians will be enrolled for free in the IPRS.

The chief mentor was Upali Chattopadhyay. Sessions on royalties and rights were led by Rumpa Banerjee of IPRS, and eight community members were present through the camp. On the final day, the musicians interacted with Usha Uthup, who told them she was struck by the musical diversity and skill on show.

"We got feedback that the team really stood out — for their versatility and songwriting, their knowledge of rhythms and singing techniques, and their professionalism. It genuinely made us happy," said Sruthin Lal, Executive Director of ARPO, who accompanied the team.

For the fellows, the camp was a chance to test what the fellowship had built. "This was a place where we got a real-world situation to apply our skills to, and it went great," said Maneesh.

ARPO was a partner in the programme, bringing the largest number of participants to the first-of-its-kind initiative. The learnings from the camp will feed directly into the upcoming Earthlore Fellowship programmes, says Sruthin.