Rare music show performed at Silk City Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Music lovers of Berhampur city came face-to-face with ‘Dhumpa’ during the folk dance and music festival, ‘Indradhanu’ organised by the Berhampur Music Circle on November 30 evening at Utkal Mandap open air auditorium. ‘Dhumpa’ performances have become a rarity. But ‘Dhumpa’ is a part of Oriya literary and cultural history. According to Satya Moharana of Berhampur Music Circle, revival of Dhumpa would also help popularise writings of great poet Kavisurya Baldev Rath. Digapahandi in Ganjam district happens to be the birth place of Kavisurya. The poet was believed to have invented the Dhumpa. It was made of bamboo. It was a musical instrument used to accompany his poetic satires, which are still called ‘Dhumpa geet’.

Dhumpa Guru Pradeep Rath and his troupe performed the ‘Dhumpa’ recital. The troupe comprised a principal singer, some chorus singers, a Gotipua dancer and a group of stick drummers who beat on the Dhumpa to produce rhythmic sounds. Dhumpa was a hollow decorated bamboo cylinder of six to seven feet length. The singing of principal singer was accompanied by instruments like harmonium, tabla, flute, veena, mardal, thali and nagara. The other folk dance forms which were part of the evening were Sakhinata, Dhuduki, Bharat Lila, Gahani, Ranapa and Chadeya dances. During the festival, gurus of these folk dance forms were honoured for keeping alive the cultural tradition of the State. Sakhinata guru Nilakantha Tarai, Bharat Lila master Santosh Padhi, Kedar Panigrahi of Gahani form, Dhumpa guru Pradeep Rath, Ranapa guru Rajendra Prasad Patra were honoured by the organisers. These gurus also performed along with their troupes.

Marital dance

The Odissi classical vocalists, who were honoured during the ceremony included Santosh Behera, and vocalist twins, Ram-Laxman. These vocalists sang the famous Odissi compositions of Kavisurya. Throughout the show the organisers tried to provide historical data regarding the folk dances that were performed on stage and how they were part of our cultural heritage. The martial dance ‘Ranapa’ had played a major role in the ‘paika mutiny’ of Orissa against the Britishers

Source: The Hindu