Chants from Bengal
Folk music is a powerful medium—it inspires masses and instils an understanding of life at the margins in Bengali society today. Our attention—now more than ever—must be on preserving folk songs and bringing the small populace of surviving artists to a wider audience. Groups like Dohar continue to be household names, and it is through lending an ear to the music they produce that we can expand the audience for Bengali folk music, popularise it worldwide, and push for its archiving and preservation.
Jal Jhulni Dhol Gyaras Utsav: A Town in Motion
Every year, shortly after Janmashtami, the industrial town of Nagda in Madhya Pradesh transforms into a moving landscape of faith and collective celebration. The occasion is Jal Jhulni Dhol Gyaras Utsav, locally known as Dhol Gyaras, a festival dedicated to Lord Vishnu and observed on the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month of Bhadrapada. Though the festival is deeply rooted in faith and devotion, its contemporary form has been shaped by generations who have added their own creative practices to it.
