Rongali Bihu: Assam bets big on performance by 5,000 plus artists to attract more tourists

5,000 dancers, drummers to perform as Assam targets tourism during Rongali Bihu festival

Over 5,000 Bihu dancers and dhulias (drummers) will perform together on Tuesday as part of the Assam government’s target to exploit the tourism potential of Rongali Bihu, the state’s biggest cultural festival.

Although Assam celebrates Rongali Bihu every spring, the state tourism department with the help of India Tourism is organising a Bihu function keeping tourism in mind for the first time.

“Bihu is a very colourful festival, which we celebrate every year. But there are a lot of possibilities to attract tourists to witness and enjoy the Rongali Bihu festival, the music, dance, and the traditional food items. Keeping this in mind, we provided training to 5,000 local young boys and girls on Bihu dance and playing drums and other traditional musical instruments. They will perform together in an open-air function on Wednesday,” Assam’s cultural affairs minister, Bimal Borah said in Guwahati.

The two-day function began on Monday at the playground of a school at Tingkhang in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district.

The function is being organised three days before the start of the week-long Rongali Bihu festival on Thursday when all offices, educational institutions, and other government establishments will remain closed for the festival. People celebrate Bihu at their homes while students’ bodies and other citizen committees also organise Rongali Bihu functions in various locations across Assam. Although Bihu functions are organised with donations, for the first time, the Assam government has provided financial assistance of Rs. 1.5 lakh to several old Bihu committees.

An exhibition of traditional mask making, Borgeet (devotional songs), painting exhibition, quiz on Bihu and cultural evening are also part of the two-day Bihu function being organised by the state tourism department.

Rongali is the most colourful festival among the three Bihu Assam observes every year, Bhogali Bihu and Kati Bihu are the two others.

On the first day of the Rongali Bihu, which is called Goru Bihu, farmers in the villages bathe their cattle in the water bodies and worship the cows wishing for good health for better crops. On the second day, people visit their relatives and neigbours to seek blessings of the elders and wish each other for Bihu function. Bihu troupes, comprising mainly young boys and girls attired in traditional clothes (Mekhela sador for girls, dhoti kurta for boys) perform the traditional dance in the courtyards as the boys play the drums, pepa and gogona (traditional flutes). People also visit each other’s houses to enjoy traditional food meals.

Singer Angarag Papon Mahanta, Zubeen Garg, Simanta Sekhar, Bipin Chowdang, besides them, others will also perform at the Bihu function being organised by the government. The traditional crackers made in Barpeta in western Assam will also be burnt in the evening.