Artistes From Sri Lanka, South Korea Also Part Of Festival
The organisation has joined hands with the state govt’s MSME department to promote Chhau and Gomira, two masked performing arts of Bengal, on a global platform by organising International Intangible Cultural Heritage Mask Dance Festival in New Town on Nov 19 and 20. Despite the Unesco tag, promotion for Chhau needs to be wider so that artistes from Purulia receive global recognition.
Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage founder director Sourav Mukherjee said, “Chhau dance of Purulia has had a Unesco tag but Gomira, another mask performing art of Bengal, does not. Kartik Kumar, a Chhau artiste from Debnatorang village in Purulia, said, “The Unesco tag for Chhau has not done much good for us. Asharu Sarkar, a Gomira performer from Dinajpur, said, “It is a centuries-old masked dance form but very few people outside Bengal know about it. Pointing out that safeguarding intangible cultural heritage was also about bringing communities and cultures closer, Sarkar said, “By bringing these five mask dance traditions to Kolkata, we hope to create a shared platform, where heritage connects generations, inspires collaboration and builds bridges across borders. ” “The festival will give artistes an opportunity to perform on an international platform, paving the way for greater cultural inclusion and empowerment,” said a state official.
The festival will bring together five distinctive performing traditions from different geographical and cultural landscapes—Chhau from Purulia, Gomira from Dinajpur, Karma Shaila Dance from Madhya Pradesh, Tukka Wadu Kolam from Sri Lanka and Haeseo Talchum from the Republic of Korea—on the international platform. The event comes under the Rural Craft and Cultural Hubs Project, a joint initiative of Unesco and MSME department. Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage, a UN-accredited social enterprise, has been tasked with organising the festival. That is why we are trying to bring these two on the Unesco global platform. Two months ago, Unesco took eight Chhau dancers from Purulia to Korea for a cultural exchange programme. Our next generations are losing interest in carrying on the traditional art form. Now that the govt and Unesco are taking an initiative to bring us on a global stage, we hope it will be a boon for us. The Unesco initiative will help in the survival of our traditional art form.