Living Traditions: Festival of Assam

An NCPA Presentation

‘Living Traditions’ is our ongoing series showcasing folk traditions of different regions of India. This year the focus is on the musical traditions of Assam. Major among the Seven-Sister States of North-eastern India, Assam is known for its biodiversity, wildlife, archaeological sites, oil reserves and tea plantations. Its population is an intermix of various racial stocks. Traditions and culture including languages, dresses, food habits and art forms practised by the large number of tribes that inhabit the land is a clear reflection of the overwhelming ethnic diversity.

Documentary Screenings
Godrej Dance Theatre
Saturday, 18th – 5.30 pm

The following three documentaries produced by Films Division will be screened as a curtain-raiser to the festival.

Land of the Brahmaputra (11.32 mins)
This documentary presents a report on this enchanting land of melody and moods. Following the river Brahmaputra, which flows through Assam, the film spotlights the river’s vagaries in alternately ravaging and helping Assam to reap rich harvests. It describes the sects of people and their culture who reside around the Brahmaputra region. It is in black and white and made in the year 1953.

Purwottar Ki Parwaz (26.29 mins)
This documentary is on the forest of Assam – Kaziranga. It focuses on the heritage and conservation of birds.

Satras and Namghars of Assam (19.28 mins)
The film depicts the Satra and Namghar tribes of Assam that the great saint Shankardeva introduced in Assam approximately 500 years ago.

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA members will get preferential seating till 5.20 pm

Presentation of Folk-Forms
Experimental Theatre
Saturday, 18th – 7.30 pm

A group of musicians and dancers will present indigenous folk forms of various regions of Assam. This will include borgeet, an invocation of Krishna practised by the Vaishnava sect, Kamrupi lokgeet, a folk song in the dialect of Kamrup district, dance forms such as jhumur, which is associated with tea gardens, and Bihu, the most celebrated folk dance of Assam.

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