Paradise unexplored
PHOTO SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY.
ONE FOR THE HEAVEN Prime Minister Manmohan Singh all smiles after inaugurating `Octave 2006'at Pragati Maidan.
It was a collective cultural experience of "Paradise Unexplored", its tantalizing images both robust and dainty, far from the mind-numbingly repetitive fare spun by Delhi's cultural wheel. The mega eight-day event `Octave 2006' involved all the Akademies - Sangeet Natak, Sahitya and Lalit Kala - and the zonal cultural centres, etc.
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland and Sikkim may all have clashing individual political agendas, but they all share strong fealty in subscribing to a feeling of cultural and political marginalizing, enhanced by the geographical isolation. One hopes that this event at Pragati Maidan, planned as an annual extravaganza of performing art presentations, screenings of award winning films from the North-east, along with an Art Exhibition "Call of the Bamboos" and Literary Symposium of Poetry Reading and Book fare will be more than tokenism. Inaugurated by the Prime Minister who spoke of the strength and resilience of diversity and cultural riches making us "proud, beautiful and connected".
Celebrating the largely unsung in a resounding `Octavian Harmony', was the concert whose artistic designer Jayant Kastuar assisted by Akademi awardees from the North East, brilliantly interwove in a nuanced Panorama the sounds and rhythms of the North-east.
Counterpoint to the Buddhist chants from Arunachal Pradesh , a sonorous delight of base tonal analogue, were the soprano and harmonized voices from Nagaland and Mizoram and Manipur. The Naga dancers and Thanga Ta movements combined in an arresting black and white costumed configuration. It was a symphony in white as the Sattriya Dancer performed to Sankar Dev's lyric accompanied by the Manipur Pung, followed by Assam's Gayan/Bayan drummers with the Khol snaking their zigzag way out, complemented by the strong and graceful leaps and steps of Manipur's Cholam dancers with Pung and Khartal. Adding colour were Tripura's Hozagiri, Mizoram's agile Cherokan dancers and graceful Lepcha and Sortha performers of Sikkim in the meshed tapestry of forms. The festival is one till March 14.
LVR
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