Description

About the Book

The edition dealing with the folk genre of the Rajbanshis of North Bengal is a valuable document not only on folk music but also on socio-cultural history of the folk community and the region, namely the Rajbanshis and the then Kamrup. The book contains:

• Theoretical analysis of Music, Folk Music and Ethnomusicology,
• Historico-geographical background of Kamrup,
• Cultural history of the Rajbanshi community,
• Linguistic analysis of the Kamrupi dialect,
• Lyrics of Bhawaiya which portray the life style of the Rajbanshis,
• Present position of the Bhawaiya-Catka form of folk songs and its future prospect.

This inter-disciplinary study by Dr. Barma has opened a new dimension which will definitely benefit the musicologists, cultural anthropologists, sociologists, folklorists, historians and other enthusiasts.

About the Author

An efficient bureaucrat, Dr. Sukhbilas Barma, a member of Indian Administrative Service continued his deep love and passion for the cultural history of his own community. Born and brought up in the rural background of Krishnapur, a remote village of Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, characterized by serpentile mountain-fed perennial rivers, Dr. Barma pursued his passion of singing acquired from his childhood in the folk song popularly known as Bhawaiya and Chatka and got recognition as a Grade-I performer of folk song by All India Radio. His quest for the beauty, strength and genesis of traditional music made him an ardent scholar of the Ethnomusicology of Bhawaiya and Chatka, which resulted into the doctoral thesis for Ph.D. awarded by Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata.