Movement to revive folk traditions of Punjab

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 27

When the first Preet Nagar folk festival was held two years ago at the famous live artist community village near Amritsar, the idea was to revive and relish the long-forgotten folk art forms of Punjab, put them along with the pop-culture and let each complement each other. Since then Punjab Sangeet Natak Academi and Gurbaksh Singh Nanak Singh Foundation has continued with the tradition and given platform to the next generation of folk artist, who otherwise would have been forced to give up on the family ‘occupation’.

Bringing together various folk flavours of Punjab with traditional dance forms like sammi, bhangra, giddha and traditional musical instruments like tumbi, folk songs like 'vaar' et al for younger audiences, the artists' conglomeration at Preet Nagar supported several budding folk artistes to revive their traditions through their talent. And it has caught on.

Two of the major findings from the folk-revival movement were the Lopoke brothers and the Kartar Singh Saraba theatre group. Lopoke brothers, who rose from these platforms and are now one of the popular Sufi performers in the region, are one of the examples of how the revival movement has found resonance with culture lovers. From travelling to several musical festivals to performing live shows in Delhi, Lopoke brothers have managed to hold a firm ground with the backing of Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi. “The Kartar Singh Saraba theatre group, too, comprises children from the rural folk artiste communities that couldn’t get any means to support their lives. The group with 15 children artistes performs street plays and are pursuing genres of theatre,” says Kewal Dhaliwal, noted theatre person and president, Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi. He also organised cultural meets to promote kavishri, a traditional form of poetry now lesser known to this generation.

Working closely with the folk artiste communities, Rajendra Singh, another theatre director has also been working to support and revive the artiste community of bhands and marasis, one of the notable folk artistes from Punjab since 18th century. Actor Anita Devgan, too, joined in the movement by directing plays in malwai, a popular dialect once spoken in the Malwa region of Punjab. Not just artistes, but also folk instruments like tumbi, chimta (prong) and dance forms like jhumar and luddi, too, are being featured and promoted through collaborated efforts.

“These traditions are being suffocated by the popular culture pressure and to bring them to the audience means connecting them with their roots. There is a lot of cultural and theatre potential waiting to be explored in the smaller towns and village communities where earlier generation of folk artistes is living a life of oblivion. It's time we nurture and preserve our cultural heritage,” says Dhaliwal.