Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre organized Baisakhi Utsav, centred around Bengali New Year, aimed at popularizing Bengal’s culture. On 16 April, Governor CV Anand Bose, who is also chairman of EZCC, started a cultural programme at Raj Bhavan. The utsav was continuation of that. The festival saw many folk traditions of Bengal being played on stage like Patachitra Katha, where the artist depicted Sindhu Bodh from the Ramayana.
Then there was Gambhira Pala and Mukha Nritya (masked dance) performance by artists, where they depicted how Lord Shiva is worshipped as the village elder and considered their saviour. Pater gaan (songs accompanying the pictures) artist Arun Patua from Birbhum said patachitra is seldom accompanied by songs in the cities.
“In the cities, patachitra is quite famous but the real charm of it is only when accompanied by songs, narrating the stories. It is like a bioscope,” he said. Son of famous pater gaan artist, Banku Patua, he said he learnt the art from his father. “My daughter, who is doing her graduation, also knows the art but I don’t think she will take up the profession,” he added.
Sudeb Sarkar, team leader of Mikha Nach from South Dinajpur, who also is director of Khon Academy & Research Centre, said, “The dance represents the evoking of good forces for overpowering evil forces. The masks are representatives of the forefathers, who are supposed to protect the villagers.” Director EZCC Ashis Giri said the main idea is to bring into limelight the various folk cultural traditions of Bengal from different districts.
“It included South Dinajpur’s Mukha dance, Path Katha and songs associated with it, Malda’s Gambhira, Gajon, Jhumur, Bhavaiya from south Bengal. Out of this, Bairati dance as part of Bhavaiya is almost non-existant. There is also baul, tusu, bhadu which will get performed here,” said the director, who is an expertise research on the folk traditions of Bengal and a folk artist certified by AIR.