Mail News Service
Imphal, May 6 : Governor Gurbachan Jagat today inaugurated the 41st Shumang Leela Festival organized by Manipur State Kala Akademi at Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen, Palace Compound here.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the festival, Governor Gurbachan distributed awards to 11 female group artistes . He congratulated the award winners of the last edition of the Festival . This year 20 groups are participating, including 8 of males and 12 of females.
This performing art form of Manipur loosely translated as courtyard theatre has provided entertainment to the general public for decades. Even though it started with comic genre to humour the kings and noblemen, it became a powerful tool for conveying social messages. The older generation still remember the leelas based on Khamba-Thoibi, episodes from Moirang parva, Mahabharata, Ramayana, etc. Later on the genre of Eshei Leela came which was popular among the youngsters as it was styled on modern Hindi films but its popularity did not last long.
Such a vibrant performing art is now finding it difficult to maintain its popularity because of the onslaught of modern entertainment forms like cinema, television, etc. Shumang Leela had stood strongly against proscenium theatre when the latter was in it’s hey day, but both art forms are facing serious crises against the modern technology.
It must be the responsibility of every citizen of the State to ensure that the rich tradition of Shumang Leela is preserved and propagated for posterity. Research needs to be done on it so that this rich and vibrant art form is understood in its totality. The tendency to absorb styles from cinema does not do much good to this art form and many experts believe that this has led to its stagnation and many believe that, without patronage, this art form may wither away like many other art forms of this State. During the time of the Maharajas, the number of art forms and its proponents were less and the State could provide very strong patronage for its growth. Similarly, in the field of games and sports also the State could provide patronage. But with increased population, and with the opening up of frontiers, many exotic art forms have become popular with numerous adherents and it is with these that the traditional art form has to compete. In many parts of the country, many indigenous art forms have vanished but in Manipur, because of its rich traditions, many of the art forms still survive in the 21st century and for this he congratulated the people of Manipur for their contribution, especially the promoters and artists of these rare art forms.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/shumang-leela-festival-begins-2/
