From Our Correspondent
TURA, Sep 24: Workshops are supposed to be bland right? Imagine resource persons coming every day over a period of time to explain the same things over and over again. Going by the response to the recently concluded five-day workshop, organized by the Arts and Culture department, workshops can not only be educational but teach you things that you only dreamt of.
The town of Tura held the second edition of the ‘Umbrella Project’ where in participants were coached on various facets of film making, script writing, theatre, arts in the community as well as traditional string instruments of the Garo tribe and going by the enthusiasm shown by those that took part, it really was something they were looking forward to.
The first edition of the project was held in the capital earlier this year. The Tura chapter was titled ‘Nokpante’. The ‘Umbrella’ project was initially conceived in the year 2019 with the department looking to provide training through various workshops across Meghalaya to those that wanted to learn art and culture.
The 5 day workshop began on Sep 18 and concluded this Friday, Sep 22 and saw participation from across the state, though the local numbers were greater. The biggest attraction to most was the presence of Garo Hills’ most famous filmmaker, Dominic Sangma, fresh from the completion of his new film – Rapture.
While Dominic handled the script writing (film making) section of the workshop, Chekam A Sangma (chigring) and Tangsrik A Sangma (dotrong) took up training for two traditional musical instruments. Marborsing Marbaniang (art in a community) and theatre personality Jyoti Narayan Nath, assisted by theatre and film artiste, Balsrame Sangma looked at the theatre section of the workshop.
“When they came on the first day, they were not only shy but also very hesitant in putting in their efforts. Within a day of continual interactions, things changed and they (participants) began to express themselves. There is such a lot of local talent that just needs to be honed and if such workshops are undertaken on a regular basis, the next big thing could just come up from here,” felt Jyoti Narayan.
Balsrame thanked the organizers (Art and Culture) for taking the initiative to put forward such a project feeling this could give those interested an opportunity to create things in their lives that the world can see and Garo Hills be proud of.
More than 30 participants were part of the theatre group with the organizers stating that they had received a tremendous number of requests for participation in all 4 workshops. However due to the paucity of space, they could only accommodate about 130 in these workshops.
“We have participants from all districts in Garo Hills with most being from the town of Tura, mainly because it was held here. Provided we have the resources, we want to organize such workshops in all districts of the state. We have been overwhelmed with the response,” added one of the organizers, Paul Lyngdoh.
A visit to the Arts in the community section of the workshop showed more than 20 youngsters working with the new skills they learnt over the past 4 days on Friday, using only waste material.
While one of the participants was busy making a dragonfly using waste computer covers, another made a complete ‘Nokpante’ model using similar materials. Another in the same group made a painting using semi-conductor wires and yet another made a garden using various waste materials.
“We are just showing them what they can do with waste material that is easily available everywhere. It takes a long time to master these skills to make meaningful and worthwhile items, provided they continue working on their skills, there is scope for the future for them in such creative work,” informed resource person, Marbaniang.
The next stop was the workshop where more than 40 participants had been trained on playing two of the main instruments that were unique to the Garo culture – the chigring and the dotrang. A demonstration was also organized by those that came to the workshop showing how music is always universal – with perfect sync between those playing both instruments.
“These are traditions that are now only played at festivals. It would have been a huge help if regular workshops for our own music were held in various parts of Garo Hills so that more people can learn these instruments. We are hopeful this will materialize someday soon,” said resource person Tangsrik.
The string instrument workshop saw music learners from West Khasi Hills while also comprising a specially abled, Amos Gonmei.
Amos, who is a Naga by birth, is a resident of Tura but his passion, by his own admission, is music.
“Music is my life and I want to learn as much as I can. I faced a challenge on the first day but got the hand of the dotrong from the second day onwards thanks to the support of our trainers. I want to continue learning more such music in the future as well,” said Amos.
Enthusiastic college goers, Christina Chingbera M Sangma and Chingsrame G Momin were thankful for their opportunity to learn the chigring.
“We have heard stories of our traditional instruments from our grandmothers and now we know how to play them. We would love to keep learning,” they stated.
As he has been with his films, so was Dominic in a conversation over his workshop which had about 20 people.
“The title for the chapter in Garo Hills is apt as it is the Nokpante where youths were taught life skills and arts. I think Art and Culture is trying to emulate them. 5 days is not enough to learn script but we are trying to give them a concise idea of what script writing is about. Just trying to tell them that stories are all around us and we just need to open up our eyes and ears to them,” said Dominic.
He expressed happiness at the progress made by the participants which he felt was indicative that with more such workshops, the talent that he saw could be groomed further.
“They have been able to catch up this short while and I have no doubt that they could make their own name given the time and opportunity,” felt Dominic.
Riksil K Marak, one of the participants in the script writing, felt it was a dream come true to be working and learning from the filmmaker.
“Ever since his first feature film, I have longed for the opportunity to meet him and learn from him. This is a dream come true,” said Riksil at the workshop conducted by Dominic.