Jacob Baroi grew up watching his father and uncles performing popular Pala Gaan (folk music plays) at their village in southern Bangladesh. Pala Gaan uses recitation, music, acting and dance to tell ...

A century-old manuscript of traditional jatra pala (folk theatre) has been discovered in Gopalganj, shedding new light on rich folk-cultural heritage in the region. The manuscript belongs to Binapani ...

Jatra is a double entendre in Bengali: it means both a journey and also denotes an open-air folk opera based on ancient epics and current socio-politics. In Parapaar too, jatra is used as both: a ...

Bengal’s jatra industry, which was hit hard by the pandemic like most other aspects of life, is finally gearing up to get back on its feet after the state government allowed the folk theatres to ...

Although this highly traditional medium of entertainment faces threats from modern theatre and other forms of entertainment, the story of this specific journey, and the way it has served the ...

Flashes of light, deafening music, a flourish of drums and then, silence. Next, half a dozen men and women enter with candles in hand. They punch the air even as the sound boxes begin to play the ...