March 29, 2026 02:14 am (IST)
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Banglanatok.com showcases project to preserve folk musics
Kolkata, Oct 18 (IBNS) A Kolkata-based organisation "Banglanatok.com" showcased their project at the American Centre to preserve three genres of traditional folk musics- Bhawaiya songs of North Bengal, Bhatiali songs of Sunderbans in South Bengal and Bangla Qawwali of Kolkata.
The organisation also won a prestigious grant from the Ambassadors Fund for the Cultural Preservation (AFCP) which was announced by the director of the Council Joanna Joria.
Amitava Bhattacharya, director and founder of "Banglanatok.com", was present at the media interaction and introduced the performers of three different music genres. There were two group of performers, one representing Bangla Qawwali and other the Bhawaiya.
He also spoke about the loss of these Bengali music traditions which are now slowly fading away from the modern music and are at a point of near extinction.
During the entire press interaction, Bhattacharya stressed on the need of preservation of 'our intangible Bengali culture'.
A mining engineer from IIT Kharagpur, Bhattacharya worked for an Indian IT major abroad for a decade before plunging into entrepreneurship in 2000.
Bhattacharya said, " Heritage is of different nature. Tangible heritage, intangible heritage and natural heritage. Banglanatok.com is a social enterprise focusing on intangible cultural heritage and West Bengal is certainly a huge gold mine for that."
Pausing for a while, the director said, "If we look at the North Bengal, the best of the music there is Bhawaiya music. In the middle of the Bengal there is Burdwan, Murshidabad and from there Baul Fakiri music originates."
Baul has become quite common these days. Baul Fakiri music is a form of music which is known as "Bangla Qawwali".
"But now this form has become extinct for more than hundred years. In the areas of Sunderbans, we will find Bhawaiya. Our project covers 50 Bhawaiya songs, 50 Bangla Qawwali songs and 50 Bhatiyali and releasing 2 CD's of each form. Along with this we have also planned to come out with the Bangla Qawwali book with a synopsis in English," he said.
The director then talked about how people, life, culture and even Bhatiyali music got effected after the arrival of cyclone "Aila".
Bhattacharya also expressed his gratitude towards AFCP for supporting the project of preserving and safeguarding Bengal's cultural heritage.
(Reporting by Prashanti Banerjee, Images by Somnath Roy Chowdhury/IBNS)
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