NCIC moves to revive folk traditions

SHASTRI BODAN

The National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) is working to revitalize various aspects of Indian culture that may have slowly faded from the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.

Independent Senator Deoroop Teemal, Chairman, NCIC Heritage Centre, said that the Center has undertaken a project in which folk culture will be viewed, recorded, documented and researched.

At the time of his confirmation of the project, Senator Teemal was addressing a Jaal Ramayan workshop at NCIC Nagar, Chaguanas, on Saturday, September 10. The event featured a Jaal Ramayan group from Suriname and other local performers.

“Coming out of all this, we are very optimistic that we will be able to renew, revive, revitalize and – in cases where the respective traditions that were brought, died out – even be able to reintroduce the traditions into the communities.” Senator Teemal said.

Members of Avocat Shiv Shakti Jaal Ramayan and Chowtal from South Trinidad group perform at NCIC Nagar on Saturday 10 September 2022. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

He said many common traditions were brought to the region by forced Indian immigrants who settled in the country. He said there are similarities in traditions in Fiji and Mauritius as well, as most of the Indians who went to work in the employment program came from the shared regions of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India.

Senator Teemal said the fact that these traditions have survived in T&T for the past 177 years shows the perseverance of the people.

“Without any kind of national support of state support, because all these folk traditions fall outside the boundaries of what we call national culture,” he said. “It’s on the outskirts like a lot of things related to Indian culture. It’s around, and the reason it’s still there is because of the persistence and the support and the love that we have and the connection that we have when we listen to the music of our ancestors.”

He said NCIC will look to revive all the festival songs that constitute the folk culture of the local Indian community.

Munesh Kumar Jagroop, spokesperson of visiting group Shri Satyanarayan Ramayan Saamaj from Suriname, spoke about the origin and practice of Jaal Ramayan.