NAHARLAGUN, Feb 15: Boulevard of Colours (BoC), the annual street pageant featuring culture, music, art and cuisines is all set to celebrate the 32nd Statehood Day of Arunachal Pradesh.
BoC was started during the Naharlagun edition of the Festival of Arunachal, and this year is scheduled to be featured as a run-up to the main event.
As in earlier years, the event will be spread across three performance stages, with Stage I dedicated to the ‘battle jam’. Stage II will showcase folk dances and acoustic performances, and Stage III will feature bands.
The main event of the pageant is the tableau of traditional cultural troupes from all the districts of Arunachal Pradesh, and both days of the festival will begin with such a display.
The first stage has many competitions as part of the ‘battle jam’, which offers the biggest prize in the country in street dancing. The competitions that have been announced are: group battle, all-style street battle, breaking, beat-boxing, and rapping.
The main attraction is the second stage where there will be folk dance performances by 10 different troupes on each day. Lion dance from Tawang, Idu Mishmi Igu (priest) dance, peacock dance of the Khamptis, and Tangmei Tatang of the Miju Mishmi will be presented along with festival dances of the Wanchos, the Adis, the Digaru Mishmis, the Singphos, the Idu Mishmis, the Galos, and the Yobins.
This stage will also host the acoustic artists, with the headliner being Delhi-based singer and songwriter (originally from Arunachal) Chochung Dema Thongun. She was recognized as one of the Top 8 contestants on the singing reality show ‘The Stage-3’.
Other artistes to perform are Meenam Goi, Rinya Kaye, Spit Stings, Nyapi, Ngampi, and Arjun & Kevin.
The third stage will hosts bands from the home state as well as invited bands. Morbid Hallucination, Durik & the Traveling Band, David & the Band, and Alien Gods will be playing on day one. The Megh, Dambi & the Collectives, and Yesterdrive will be playing on day two.
Apart from these bands, Otto Garage from Shillong and Joe’s Apartment from Sikkim will be playing as invited artists.
On the second day, apart from the musical performances, there will be parallel events like ‘meet the author’, young painters’ exhibition, crafts and jewellery exhibition, a traditional food court, and a special exhibit by The Vivid Project, the poetry collective.
