Bihu, a photo from Assam, Northeast

Photographer's Note

'Bihu' or The Assamese New Year is the chief festival in the state of Assam in India. It refers to a set of three different festivals: Rongali or Bohag Bihu observed in April, Kongali or Kati Bihu observed in October, and Bhogali or Magh Bihu observed in January.

The Rongali Bihu is the most important of the three, celebrating the Assamese new year and the spring festival. The Bhogali Bihu or the Magh Bihu is the one that is all about food. The Kongali Bihu or the Kati Bihu is the sombre, thrifty one reflecting a season of short supplies and is an animistic festival.

The Rongali Bihu coincides (according to the Hindu calendar) with the Indian New Year festivals like Baisakhi, Bishu, etc. as well as those of other regions of East and South-East Asia which follow the Buddhist calendar. The other two Bihu festivals every year are unique to Assamese people.

Like many other Indian festivals, Bihu is associated with farming and agriculture: rice in particular, Bohag or Rongali Bihu being the sowing festival. The Assamese celebrate the Rongali Bihu with feasts, music and dancing.

The two pictures show local technicians at Kokrajhar town in lower Assam repairing and decorating traditional percussion instruments which would be used by the villagers (at times fusion music bands too) during the three days of Bihu festivities.rn(Wikipedia)

Sadly, Kokrajhar, otherwise a very quiet and scenic location, has been the epicentre of widespread ethnic hostilities in lower Assam throughout the last decade.

(View the photo in a new tab for better clarity)

snunney, holmertz, Fis2, Silvio1953, abmdsudi, ChrisJ, Cricri has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

emka (158204) 2019-04-14 0:11

Hello Satya, Nice two pictures of the men preparing for the Bihu Festival. Are these drums? Excellent photos.

Kind regards Malgo

mesutilgim (0) 2019-04-14 0:20

Hello Satya,
Nice and interesting picturepack with two different scenes from the same place.
Perfect sharpness and nice bright colors. Many good and usefull notes as well.
TFS and have a nice weekend
MESUT ILGIM

snunney (130967) 2019-04-14 0:24

Hello Satya,
A pair of interesting and well realised images showing these men preparing for the festival. Both have excellent colours and clarity and are well exposed.

Tue (92482) 2019-04-14 0:32

Hello Satya,
Two excellent photos of the men's workshop. It's interesting to see them working on the instruments with this serious expression of concentration on their faces. Good sharpness and clarity.
Lars

holmertz (102800) 2019-04-14 1:50

Hello Satya,
Two very good photos elegantly presented together. People at work are always interesting to watch, and in this case the shapes and colours of the percussion instruments make them perfect eye-catchers.
Kind regards,
Gert

lousat (139342) 2019-04-14 2:04

Hi Satya,very interesting note about this festival,the most important of 3,but very sad to know that this region is not peaceful during the last years. A lovely collage showing men working to build instrument for the fest,a perfect capture very sharp despite the dark light,i like the face expressions too. Have a nice Sunday and thanks,Luciano

Nicou (193806) 2019-04-14 2:55

Hello

quelle vue et sc鋝e ces deux hommes en train de fabriquer ces instrument comme il a pos� son pied et l'autre qui fait la peinture rouge quelle compo tr鋊 int廨essant quelle d嶰ouverte et image superbe
Bravo et amiti�
Nciouz

Fis2 (170885) 2019-04-14 13:30

Witaj Satya!
Excellent collage, curious scenes from daily life.
I like framing, colors and sharpness.
A very interesting place.
Well done.
Warm regards.
Krzysztof

Silvio1953 (221751) 2019-04-15 3:16

Ciao Satya, lovely double view of original instruments, wonderful colors, fine details and splendid clarity, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

Miguel82 (47110) 2019-04-15 4:24

Satya, the photo note contains an explanative text about Bihu festival in Assam. On the picture, two craftsmen are repairing drums. Excellent daily life action presented, good sharpness

abmdsudi (95869) 2019-04-15 20:59

Namaste Satya
Great cultural shot from you, enlightened by your in-depth info narratives. The basis of a great shot; I find myself looking straight at the traditional instrument perfectly placed at the thirds, then hovers to the main characters and around the workshop background. The tighter crop is a good idea, exposure level works fine with clear detail of their faces together with excellent colour saturation and some lifting of shadows area helps a lot to increase the impact.

There's a lot to look at within the limited space but I love his interaction with the camera - another strong point to focus our attention. Looks like all of them were working hard, it's a nice study and good moment caught here. Excellent captures and tfs.
Best regards

ChrisJ (171888) 2019-04-25 4:28

Hello Satya

Missed this one. I hope the ethnic tensions have faded away. I did not go past Darj as it was mid winter and I did not like the sound of having to used chopped firewood to heat water then pour it over yourself manually in a bucket. An interesting daily life scene of the 2 men preparing for the festival. Tfs!

Cricri (176) 2019-05-22 0:14

Hi Satya
Deux belles pr廥entations, int廨essant de voir le travail, leurs positions, et expressions
amiti廥
cricri

pajaran (116011) 2019-07-19 5:48

Pozdrav.
Lep pogled i trenutak, interesantan i dobar tekst ...
Lepo pokazano, dobar kontrast, lepe boje, dobro uhvacen trenutak.
Majstori rade svoj posao u svojoj radionici.
Zelim vam sve najbolje za vikend.
Paja.