Folk Songs And Nationalism: A Study Of The Bihu Songs Of Assam

Folk songs showcase contemporary society’s social life. It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of a nation was popularized. This paper aims to understand the political vigour and portrayal of nationalistic zeal in Bihu songs, one of the important genres of folk songs of Assam, during the period of two phases of nationalistic movements in Assam. Firstly, this paper focuses on the Indian Independence Movement, especially during the Non-Cooperation Movement of the 1920s. This was the time when Mahatma Gandhi visited Assam in August 1921. Secondly, it emphasizes the Assam Movement that took place in the 1980s. which highlighted the issues and questions between foreign migrants and the indigenous people of Assam. They struggled for their linguistic identity as well as a unified homeland. Digging the historical documents of the time, it is known that the leaders of Nationalistic Movements took help from various traditional, regional and micro-regional performances to spread their messages. Assamese folk songs such as Bihu songs, and Ojapali were used as symbolism of Assamese nationality and to integrate people and raise their questions on identity. This paper details the portrayal of the then Assam in Bihu songs which is an integral part of the Bihu Festival, the marker of the spirit of Assamese nationalism. This paper tries to comprehend the larger scope of traditional folksongs in accommodating political events. These issues will be discussed through the theoretical frames of historian Eric Hobsbawm’s ‘Inventing Tradition’.