Nurunnabi Shanto

I remember—it was late afternoon, the sun leaning westward. From a distance, a soft yet resolute melody drifted through the air. I was just a boy then, curious and drawn by the sound. I approached quietly.

When the traditional haor song Lechur Baganey (“In the litchi orchard…”) was repurposed as an “item song” in a recent Bengali film, it sparked an outpouring of debate among music lovers and across social media platforms.

Various forms of dances are found in the different Padma Purana or Manasa (the myth of snake Goddess Padma or Manasa) performances from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.