The Jaya Jagannath Sanchar Dal, from Angul village of Bargarh, Odisha, has been presenting multilingual drama and dance for the past 25 years now.
The troupe of Khadia and Bag tribals has won accolades in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh for showcasing Sambalpuri folk, Odissi and other traditional dance forms. They juggle out the magic of their dance and song through various steps and rhythms like ‘adi taal’ and ‘chaali taal’.
Jaya Jagannath Sanchar Dal leader Ghanshyam Nag trained under three gurus. He also served as president of the Jharbandh Block Kala Sanskruti Sangh, formed by the government for the promotion of culture.
“Though ours is an all-male troupe, we sometimes include one or two female artistes, on the request of our audience. We perform in four languages, Sambalpuri, Odia, Chhattisgarhi and Hindi. Apart from our presentation of mythological stories penned about 50 years ago, we also do programmes in Odia to disseminate information about different government welfare schemes,” says Nag.
Nag and his co-artistes put up extracts from the Ramayan, Mahabharat and other mythological tales on stage. Some of their dramas also have social and moral subjects. They use tribal instruments such as the mridanga, taal, ghungru and thikdi.
“We charge Rs 5,000-6,000 per evening for a show that lasts for four to six hours, if we perform in our area and adjoining villages. The sum can go up to Rs 10,000-15,000 for other locations,” explains Nag.
Unlike some troupes in western Odisha that have one gayak (singer) and two bayak (assistants), Jaya Jagannath Sanchar Dal has two gayak and one bayak.
Nag is proud of the group’s achievements. “We have staged shows at the Jagannath Mandir in Delhi, in Vrindavan, Mathura and Giri Govardhan, besides Bhubaneswar and Chhattisgarh. Till date, we have done programmes at more than 600 spots within and without Odisha,” he says.
