Cultural extravaganza Rongali ends on a high musical note

The glistening moon, gentle breeze, pleasant earthy smell with light drizzle painted a perfect backdrop for the conclusion of the Rongali cultural festival here, infused with folk-fusion musical waves created by the Indian Ocean band.

With Indian instruments like tabla finding a place on the stage, the band brought in an ocean of tunes with the essence of the nation's musical roots on Sunday. The band set the pace of the night with their popular track "Bandhe" followed by songs like "Kandisa" and "Ma Rewa".

"We have been to Guwahati for several shows, but have never performed in front of such a large audience. We are really looking forward to it," Rahul Ram, the band's bass guitarist and lead vocalist, told IANS before his gig.

The magical moment of the night was a 'jugalbandi' (confluence) session of the band -- be it the tabla, tunes from the guitar, the beats of the drum or audience's claps, which were in sync with a hand drum.

Another highlight of the concluding night of the three-day festival, which began on Friday at Veterinary Ground, Khanapara here, was a performance by Bollywood singer Zubeen Garg.

The singer, who hails from Assam, set the stage ablaze with his electrifying performance. He regaled his fans and music lovers with a blend of Assamese and Bollywood songs. From the Hindi filmdom, he sang "Ya Ali" and "Dil tu hi bata" from "Krrish 3".

Giving the crowd a special treat, Garg jammed with Indian Ocean, which added zest among the crowd.

Music aficionados also plugged into rock mode by grooving on the high-voltage music of heavy metal band Girish and The Chronicles. Audience was hooked to every step -- be it head banging, prancing around or filling the lyrics.

Rock singer Joshua Queah and band Moo and the Shooting Stars also entertained the audience with a livewire performance.

With the last day of the cultural gala putting the rock and roll scene of North East in spotlight, Joshua noted that though the popularity of rock music in North East has increased with time, "venues need to be set up for promotion of this genre".

Other than musical performances, the final day also weaved a balance between modernity and traditional aspect of Assam with fashion shows by designers like Garima Saikia Garg, Payal Oshan Goswami and Sanjukta Dutta.

(The writer's visit has been sponsored by the festival's organisers. Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)