A CORRESPONDENT
JORHAT: The Department of Cultural Studies of Assam Women's University organized a one-day international seminar on the theme of endangered percussion instruments of Northeast India and the need for collection, documentation and preservation of these instruments, on Wednesday, in collaboration with experts from Ohio Arts Council, USA and King Monkut's Institute of technology, Thailand.
In her inaugural speech, Vice-Chancellor of Assam Women's University, Professor Ajanta Borgohain Rajkonwar gave a picture of the current state of the university. She also highlighted the need of preservation and research on the endangered percussion instruments of the seven states of NortheEast India.
The chief guest of the symposium, Professor Noni Gopal Mahanta, advisor to the Education department, Government of Assam, in his speech pointed out the role played by Assam Women's University in developing human resources of the region and the need for up-to-date infrastructure for the university in the coming days. He also assured of permanent faculty positions and adequate infrastructure in the near future for Assam Women's University. Coming to the theme of the symposium, he highlighted the variety of musical instruments in Northeast India and the scope for academic research in this direction in the context of New Education Policy, 2020.
In the subsequent academic sessions, the invited resource persons spoke at length on the theme of the symposium. Dr Utpola Borah and Dr Hans Utter, both ethnomusicologists from Ohio Arts Council, USA, spoke on organology and fieldwork in researching percussion instruments respectively. One of the leading exponents of Dhol in the country, Dhol Samrat Somnath Bora Oja gave a demonstrative display of Dhol and spoke on its evolution in Assamese culture. The international symposium was attended by a host of scholars from the region who presented research papers on the theme.
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