Celebrating the folk music of Bengal

Bengali New year couldn't have had a better welcome. In a recently organised festival called 'Baisakhi', traditional and contemporary folk musicians of Bengal came together to celebrate the day and promote the traditional folk music of Bengal. The festival was organised by the Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage, on April 15, at Cafe Ekante, Eco Park, in collaboration with The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco). The festival which saw some unique performances of Jhumur dance, Baul singing, and folk dance groups, was inaugurated by the chairman of WB, HIDCO, Debashish Sen.

This was the second time the Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage organised the 'Baisakhi' festival.

Last year, they started a project called 'Vintage' by collaborating with the Forest Department of the government of West Bengal to develop an alternative livelihood for Sundarban people to reduce wildlife and human conflict. During the project, they provided workshops and direct market linkage for Gamcha (local towel) weaving to the local women. Beneficiaries from Sundarban also came with the products to showcase their unique talents with their inspiring stories of the journey of empowerment.

Kolkata Society for Cultural Heritage (KSCH) is a social enterprise functioning at the grass root level for the permanent developmental changes of rural, urban and tribal areas of India. It is a government registered organization functioning from 2012 in several sectors like livelihood, education, health, sanitation and other sociological sectors. They are also working to foster the socio-economical structure by using different livelihood generating methods. Currently, KSCH is operational at West and East Medinipur, Hooghly, Nadia, and South-24-Parganas. To promote traditional culture and art forms, KSCH gives the non-profit platforms to poor artists.