Khagen Mahanta speaks at the seminar in Guwahati on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, April 22: The debate continues: Is Bihu geet losing the battle against modernity?

Yes, said performing artistes and activists today at a seminar on the Role of Youth in Development of Art and Culture, organised by an non-governmental organisation, Heritage Northeast, at the Guwahati Press Club.

Ramen Choudhury, a well-known music director who has several hit films and albums under his belt, was very caustic in his criticism of the “corporatisation” of the Bihu culture, saying that “the festival has now come to be packaged according to the business needs of the MNCs”.

“They (the MNCs who sponsor the Bihu functions) decide which singer to invite and what songs are to be performed,” he added.

Choudhury pointed out that nowadays singers are advertising themselves to be “seen” by Bihu organisers and invited to perform.

“Earlier, the organisers invited the artistes based on their popularity and calibre. Nowadays, singers are celebrities just by singing cover versions of other hits songs,” he added.

Khagen Mahanta, brand ambassador of Heritage Northeast, said Bihu being a festival related to agriculture, the Bihu geet is also intrinsically related to the land and the people.

“No doubt, culture is ever changing and in constant flux. But that does not give the right to anybody to change the very grammar of Bihu geet, as is being done by new singers,” he said.

Writer and a former executive of a tea giant, Gautam Prasad Baruah, said the youth must decide for themselves how to the preserve the culture while bringing in the changes in tune with the times.

Social and cultural activist Eli Ahmed compared the predicament of the state with a household, which was changing its way of living according to “guests”.

“Our state has been flooded by guests who have brought their own culture and tradition. And we are blindly changing ourselves. That is not done. We are losing our culture too fast,” she added.

Heritage Northeast is functioning for over a decade now, producing recorded albums of rare songs for the new generation. It has also produced albums of Assamese poetry.

Khagen Mahanta also gave a brief overview of the NGO, which had launched a statewide musical journey across the state in 2002 titled, Music for Love, Life and Peace. Singers like Mahanta had led a troupe of singers to areas affected by insurgency and floods.

The NGO had also brought together three generations of singers — Bhupen Hazarika, Khagen Mahanta and Zubeen Garg — together on one stage in a rare function in April 2002.