The Lyrical Rongdanis
00:26:41

The Lyrical Rongdanis

Visual and Material Arts
in Video
Published on: 25 March 2021

Akash Basumatari, Dhritiman Deori, Simanta Choudhury, Shrutiman Deori, Shyamal Nath

Akash Basumatari is a professional documentary filmmaker. He has created documentaries and visual content covering diverse topics like livelihood, local food systems, health, marriage and various cultural practices in both rural and urban spaces. His body of work is also reflective of his strong aesthetic sensibilities and eye for detail.
Dhritiman Deori is an Assamese singer/composer and audio engineer, well known for his new-age Assamese music. In 2008 he initiated a cultural preservation project called 'The Rhythm of Northeast', travelling across northeast India with a mobile recording set-up to put together a digital database of folk instruments from the region. He also teaches 'Music Production' and 'Sound Recording Technology' at Deeproot Institute of Music, Guwahati.
Simanta Choudhury is a professional drummer/drum teacher at Deeproot Institute of Music and producer at Deeproot Studios. As a producer, Simanta has worked on studio sessions as a recording engineer, drum recording engineer, location sound recorder and folly sound recorder.
Shrutiman Deori is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer with work experience in music videos, promotional videos and event promo videos.
Shyamal Nath is an independent videographer/video editor with experience in documentary films, music videos, festival videos, tourism videos and wedding films. He has been travelling in Northeast India for the past 6 years with an eco-tour company, named Kite Manja, and documenting the culture and living practices of various tribes and communities of the region.

Through music, this film explores the themes of life, death and folk culture of the Rongdanis as the artists find themselves at the crossroads of a rapidly transforming culture.

Farkanti is a song-and-dance ritual performed after the death of a person among the Rabha tribe of Assam and Meghalaya. The purpose of the performance is to enliven the sorrowful atmosphere and to show reverence and respect to the departed soul.

Juleshwari Rabha, a singer in her seventies, is a traditional mourner and one of the few in the community to have preserved the Farkanti tradition of music and performance through her songs. As she grows older and meeker, she grapples with the inevitability of the extinction of traditional Rabha music.

Through music, the film explores the themes of life, death and folk culture as the artists find themselves at the crossroads of a rapidly transforming culture.