Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the National Tribal Dance Festival on Tuesday. The Festival is aimed at protecting the age-old traditions and rights of the indigenous communities.
Speaking at the event at the Government Science College ground in Raipur, Baghel said the wrong concept of development became a threat to nature and the rights of tribals.
The comments come amid a boycott of the festival announced by the Chhattisgarh Sarva Adivasi Samaj, an umbrella organisation of 42 tribal communities in the state. It accused the government of failing to protect their reservation rights.
Baghel said the three-day festival was aimed at uniting the world for the rights of tribals, adding that it gave a great opportunity to them to share each other’s thoughts and experiences.
“The objective of this festival is to protect the age-old traditions and rights of tribals and promote it across the world,” Baghel said.
The CM said 1,500 tribal artists from India and 10 other countries — Mozambique, Mongolia, Tongo, Russia, Indonesia, Maldives, Serbia, New Zealand, Rwanda and Egypt – would participate in the third edition of the fest.
“The changing times have brought a transformation to people’s lifestyle. Today, our thinking of development has been divided into two ways. In one way of thinking, our primitive values persist even today, while the other way that calls itself modern has become an enemy of our nature,” Baghel said.
He added that the wrong concept of development has become a threat to nature and the rights of tribals over their “jal, jungle, zameen” (water, forest and land).
“If we preserve our traditional values, then solidarity and unity will also prevail. Even that thinking of development will also remain, which is necessary to save humanity,” the Chief Minister said.
Baghel inaugurated the festival with snippets of tribal dances from Togo, Egypt, Mongolia, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Serbia, Rwanda and Maldives to the tunes of ‘Sare Jahan Se Accha’ in their distinctive styles.
The opening ceremony saw brief performances by all the participating states, besides dances by tribals from Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and several others.
The Russian troupe presented traditional dances, in which artistes imitate the movements of animals and birds, while depicting the processes like sowing, reaping and weaving. They also performed the traditional Khorovod dance, which can be seen as a mix between a game and a song as a continuous lyrical dialogue takes place between the performers.
ACCD Ungassoly, a cultural group from Mozambique, showcased their traditional dance styles through Mutxongoio and XiguBo dance. While Mutxongoio demonstrates happiness in harvest time, XiguBo represents colonial resistance or the strength of African ancestors in the Nineteenth century.
Supported by a rich and diverse choreography, the dancers from Mongolia presented a fusion performance that involved elements of several traditional tribal dances, prominently ‘Joroon Joroo’ and ‘Biyelgee’.
The fusion performance showcased the East Asian country’s unique forms of dance that embodies and originates from the everyday lifestyle of Mongol herders such as milking the cows, cooking, hunting and other household chores.
The festival will also witness an exhibition of the state’s arts and handicrafts, including bamboo work, wood carving, bell metal sculptures and terracotta work.
Source: PTI
