“Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santal community”: Celebrating the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore – West Bengal

Dance is an integral part of all festivities of the Santhal community. It is not only a performing art, but a way of life for them. To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Sangeet Natak Akademi organized Enek Sereng Parab, a three-day festival of Santhali dance and music at Daronda village, Birbhum, between … Read more

Garo Drums: Symbols associated with specific regions and social occasions – Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, West Bengal & Bangladesh

Garos are a tribal group from Meghalaya, predominantly residing in the Garo Hills region. Though found in the three (now five) Garo Hills districts, they also reside in the adjoining states of Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, and West Bengal in the Indian Union and across the political divide in the northern districts of Bangladesh. Traditionally the … Read more

“Celebrating the rich cultural heritage of tribal art forms” – Odisha, Arunachala Pradesh, Assam & Tripura

The objective of the scheme is to make special efforts to encourage folk and tribal arts and to frame special programmes for the preservation and strengthening of the vanishing art forms. Through this scheme, the root of the Indian culture is explored and the artistes from the rural belt are provided with a stage to … Read more

Schools were a distant dream – Tamil Nadu Nomads Federation

It was nothing short of making the impossible possible. The bringing together of various groups of nomadic tribes like the Nari Koravars, Paliyars, Kaatu Naickers, Sholigars, astrologers, palmists, whip dancers, leather puppet showmen circus performers and many itinerant occupational category people to organize a conference was indeed a daunting task. The first conference of Tamil Nadu … Read more

What is “Primitive Art”?

Source: “MASKED IDENTITY OF BOHADA”, Research paper by Priyanka Desai (2014)URL: https://www.academia.edu/34434759 Date Visited: 20 February 2023 Gauri Gill started out in her 20s, a Delhi-based photojournalist covering stories right across India. She’d drop in, drop back out, then later find herself wondering what had happened to all the people she had photographed. “In India, … Read more