Week-long folk dance festival begins in Tripura

Agartala, Jul 16: The Song and Drama Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has organised a week-long festival of folklore and dance here, which was inaugurated by Tripura Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahay.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion yesterday, Tripura Culture Minister Anil Sarkar said the festival would strengthen the cultural relations among different ethnic groups and communities of the Northeast and help to promote prosperity of the region.

He pointed out that it was a great social milieu because the folk forms of the Northeast have been consistently very popular in the entire country, but were not getting enough exposure.

''From times immemorial, people of the land are very attached to song and dance rituals and our hearts throb to the rhythm of the songs and dances,'' Mr Sarkar said, adding that despite all the evolutionary changes, cultural forms reflected the lifestyle of the region.

Besides cultural groups of Tripura, eminent artists of the Song and Drama Division from Delhi, Kolkata, Imphal, and Guwahati units would also be performing in the programme.

UNI