[Assam] RJs promise to air borgeet on Dutch Radio - The Sentinel 24-Jan-2008

[Tasiruddin Ahmed]

RJs promise to air borgeet on Dutch Radio
>From a Correspondent

JORHAT, Jan 23: The Dutch will soon be serenaded by the rhythmic
cadence of Asom's famous borgeet and be initiated into ways, mores and
customs of the Xatriya culture propagated by the neo-vaishnavite
monasteries on the river island of Majuli.

A couple, Fred Gales, and his Thai wife, Yong Suwan, working as radio
journalists in the Netherlands were so enthralled by the borgeet that
they recorded a number of songs at the Auniati Xatra at Majuli and
promised to air them on Dutch Radio once they returned home.

On a trip to Majuli to see bhaonas at the ongoing second Bhaona
Xamaroh held under the aegis of the Auniati Xatra, Fred and Yong spent
the day yesterday at the Auniati Xatra recording the borgeet and other
aspects of Xatriya culture.

An inmate of the Auniati Xatra, Kamal Dutta, related that so vast a
heritage was unknown by the outside world.
"We will ensure that a portion of these traditions is made known at
least to the people of Holland," Fred is reported to have said.
He also hoped that once this was done, it would further lead to
cultural exchange between the Netherlands and Asom, as both the places
have a lot to give each other.

The Xatriya culture, which comprises the bhaona, borgeet, paalnaam and
the classical Xatriya dance, originated from the neo-vaishnavite
monasteries set up by the great vaishnavite religious preacher and
scholar Srimanta Sankardev and his disciples in the 15th and 16th
centuries in Majuli. The xatras had got together to revive the bhaona,
by organizing the Bhaona Xamaroh for the second consecutive year and
this has attracted a large number of foreign tourists. Sources,
however, lamented that the State Government neither had a policy to
promote the xamaroh abroad nor did it contribute towards holding the
programme.