The fourth edition of the North East Festival – Connecting People, Celebrating Life – was recently organised in New Delhi. The three day festival was held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. The North East Festival showcased to the people of Delhi the rich cultural heritage of the North Eastern part of the country and aims to integrate the Northeast with the rest of India. Over the last three years, lakhs of people have attended the North East Festival, which has gone on to become one of the biggest festivals of Delhi.
Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Convener, North East Democratic Front said, “North East Festival is a successful, national platform to showcase North East and make people understand about the North East. All of us should support this great initiative.”
Every year North East Festival tries to attract tourists to the north eastern region. As a part of the campaign, this year North East Festival is promoting Assam and Assam Tourism under the platform Destination North East. A special presentation on Awesome Assam by Govt of Assam was made in front of tour operators of Delhi, officials from central tourism ministry.
The 3-day festivities showcased the entire Northeast India in all its finest glory and colourful hues via art, crafts and culture, songs, dance and movies, food, sports and fashion and much more.
Headlining the North East Festival 2016 the musical festival comprised icons of North East Region such as Papon, Zubeen Garg, rapper Borkung Hrangkhal, DJ Zaeden, rock bands Traffic Jam, Fourth Element, Mo & The Shooting Stars, Reverse Tragedy and many more. Raas Leela of Manipur, around 20 folk dance forms, along with the famous Ram Vijay Ankia Bhaona of Assam.
North East is also famous for its traditional sports. North East Festival displayed the traditional sports of North East with around 14 sports which would be part of the festival. Live art, a photography exhibition showcasing the vivid wildlife and natural beauty of the region, an art workshop with 20 talented young artistes of North East, plenty of interactive games.
Shyamkanu Mahanta, Chief Organiser, North East Festival said, “We are hopeful that the North East Festival will create good vibes among the people of North East and rest of India, and in the process help in integrating them. ”
