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A SEARCH FOR A BANGLADESHI IDENTITYFor a country as small in size as Bangladesh it has an amazing variety of performing arts,

both folk and urban. There are too the arts of various ethnic groups like that of theManipuris, the Santhals, the Garos, the akhains of the Burmese tradition and that of the!umma people of the hill tracts in "hittagong bordering the #rakan Mountains. This

diversity is not valued enough. Fortunately, the influence of the visual media is onlyrecently making inroads into rural areas and most of these traditions continue to live on insome form or other. By and large, ho$ever, it is the Bengali tradition that predominatesover the others. But ascertaining ho$ e%actly Bangladeshi identity differs from thegreater Bengali identity has been a struggle to resolve, especially in the sphere of the

performing arts.

&f the songs that they sing and the dances they dance creatively describe the people of anation, then it is definitely the lilting folk songs of rural Bangladesh, enthralling theimagination of people living in all of '(,))) villages, $hich may be called the mostdefinitive genre of the performing arts of Bangladesh.

Folk mileuFolk music ranges all the $ay from the $orking*man+s soulful songs like the bhatiali ofthe fisherfolk and the bhawaiya, sung by bullock*cart drivers, to songs of the ever

popular indigenous narrative dramas like jatra and jari . Some$here $ithin this vastrepertoire of lyrical music are the spiritual songs the radical songs of the bauls or$andering minstrels, the kirtans of the vaishnava devotees, and the devotional songs of-ason a a, the poet /ing of Sylhet. 0e can say $ith certitude that it is the tradition ofmusical debate kno$n as kobigaan , literally the song of the poets, $here theology andreligion are debated $ith much fervor, that have through the years ensured that thecommon folk continue to 1uestion and 1uery age old interpretations of canonical te%ts.

# boyaat is an elucidation and 2one $ho elucidates+ is a boyaati . Bangladesh is the homeof 3),))) or more boyaatis , including about a couple of thousand $omen boyaatis, $homake a living off the staging of these kobigaans all over the country. These are non*literate performers $hose $ealth is an oral tradition $hich teaches them the intricacies ofcannonical te%ts like the Quran, the Bible, the Gita and the Tripithaks . The kno$ledgeof the traditional boyaatis is easily ascertained from the ease $ith $hich they deliberateon these te%ts through their songs. Traditionally performances are staged undermakeshift arrangements at street*corners, under the open skies in fields near mazaars ,tombs of saints, or near the local mos1ues and are mostly performed in the evenings,continuing all night long.

Theatre in rural Bangladesh too takes place in similar venues and is narrative in formdenoting an act of presentation in $hich a single performer describes an event and4or

portrays various characters related to the event, all in third person. The performance may be in prose or in lyric and the performer may be accompanied by instrumental and4orvocal music rendered by a group of musicians and choral singers. The themes of thenarrative vary from the mythological to secular. # popular theatre related to muslim saints

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and legendary heroes is the jarigaan . &t commemorates the death of &mam -osain, son of 5rophet #li, at /arbala.

That Bengalis, in both the Bengals, rarely dance is another matter. This says, too, a lotabout them. 6es, there are a fe$ ritual dances here and there but nothing as gorgeous as

the bihu , chau or raslilas of neighbouring regions.

Urban cultureThere is too, of course, the culture of the metropolis, mostly, a little at a distance from theabove described $orld of ra$, untrained and passionate music and theatre. This is the$orld of the bhadralok , or genteel folk, $hom Macauly, the architect of British &ndia+scolonial policy, had envisioned almost a couple of hundred years ago, as 2 a class whomay be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons

Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect +.Fortunately, the heart remained South #sian. 0hatever $as imbibed from the $est $aslater given a local flavor and the fortunately a total overhauling never took place. So,

today the metropolis is $here local culture meets the global $ithout trepidation and ne$forms of performing arts continually take shape. The process continues giving some,taking others.

T eatreTheatre in Bangladesh is one such process. 0ith its roots in the language movement, andinspired by the ne$ $ave theatre of the &ndian 5eople+s Theatre #ssociation 7&5T#8,theatre in Bangladesh has been a po$erful tool for cultural activism. &t never gave in tothe demands of commercialism.

&n the early 9)s, $ith :agorik :atya Sampraday+s staging of 2Baki &tihash+, a play byBadol Sarkar of /olkata, theatre groups began regular staging of plays in e%change oftickets. This $as definitely a proscenium art, taking refuge in 2dialogic theatre+ and verydifferent from the open air performances of the indigenous 2narrative theatre+. The formand the te%t $ere borro$ed but the passion belonged to the land. Several groups $ereformed. The leading ones $ere Theatre, ;haka Theatre, :atya "hakra and ;haka 5adatik among others. Though, initially translations of Shakespear, &bsen and Brecht or even

plays by Tagore and plays by play$rights from 0est Bengal $ere resorted to, very soon plays by Bangladeshi play$rights $ere being $ritten. They, ho$ever, continued to be inthe dialogic styles of the $est. Syed Shamsul -u1, #bdullah #l*Mamun, Mamunurashid emerged as leading play$rights.

The most interesting development, ho$ever, $as the adoption of the folk narrative forms by the Bangladeshi play$rights. Beginning $ith Selim #l ;in+s 2"haka+ 73

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theatre in this ne$ format. For Saymon >akaria+s 2:a$ noiramoni+ 7=))=8, directed by :asiruddin 6usuf, the space $ithin the four $alls of the auditorium $as totallytransformed to give an ambiance of the outdoors. 2Bishad Shindhu+ of ;haka 5odatik isanother outstanding drama in this form. The formation of the 2Bangladesh Gram Theatre+in 3

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- ongs of the 4%auls5 who are a mendicant sect with very egalitarian %eliefs. They spread theirmessage through music.

Besides this there are various ethnic communities within Bangladesh. For e6ample- /divasi traditions anthal' "aro etc#- Traditions of the )umma tri%es of the 7hittagong 8ill tracts- Traditions of the $anipuris of ylhet- Traditions of the Rakhains and Rohingas in regions %ordering $yanmar - Traditions of the nomadic 4%ede5 community

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