DESAJ 2014 - a festival of tribal and folk performing arts of India was recently held in New Delhi. It brought together many folk musicians of the country, including artists from northeast region to showcase their talent on one platform.
DESAG-2014 was held at Pragati Maidan, on the sidelines of the New Delhi World Book Fair.
Guru Rewben Mashangva from Manipur, who is better known as the King of Naga folk blues, enthralled the audience along with his son Saka.
Rewben played his own invented flute - Yangkahui along with a guitar and a mouth organ.
" It is a good event and a great experience for me. Today folk artists from across the country came together to perform at one platform so that we shared together and when we see our mainland people and people from northeast together like this is really good and such event is really important to organize it more so that we can safe our culture," said Rewbwn Mashangva, a Naga Folk Musician, Manipur
" When so many artists from different states are together here at this time they feel each other , they see each other that we have different colors , complexion, different genes but such event make them feel that we are one," said Suman Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Drama and Sangeet Natak Akademi.
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The four-day long event was organized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National academy of Music, dance and drama, New Delhi in collaboration with the National Book Trust.
The event that aimed to promote the rich folk music attracted a large number of visitors.
Folk dance troupes from Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha also showcased their rich cultural traditions at the event.
The performances highlighted the idea of unity through blending of different dances and music.
"It's a very good event because many artists from across the country have come together here at one platform to display different kind of folk dances, songs. After seeing all this I feel good. Though we have different cultures but it shows that we are united," said Norbu Tshering Lepcha, a participant.
"It's very good to see their performance and they have performed it very well. I really enjoyed it," added Rahul, a visitor.
Such events help bring people closer to their roots and spread awareness about the rich indigenous culture to a larger audience.