Sanskriti (culfest)

Sanskriti is the annual socio-cultural college festival or culfest of Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Sanskriti actually comprises three independent five-day culfests of the Faculties of Arts, Science and Engineering in Jadavpur University. The events occur in the period mid-February to mid-March, starting with the Faculty of Arts Sanskriti and ending with the Faculty of Engineering Sanskriti, the biggest of the three. Sanskriti is organized by the students, without involvement of the university authorities. Students wear a special T-shirt and take part competitive and cultural activities. A reunion night is also held.
Events
Sanskriti is host to a number of inter-college competitive events. The Competitive events are held over three days for the Arts and Science faculties and five days for the Engineering faculty. Afternoons and evenings are usually devoted to the competitive events with the performances making their way to the stage in the late evenings. Events are held at the open-air theatre.
Competitive events include western and eastern choreography, western and eastern solo and band music, and quiz (trivia). Other notable events include debate, antakshari (a spoken parlor game), medleys and other off-stage events.
The Engineering Sanskriti finale usually coincides with the Indian festival of colours - Holi or Doljatra. The final night at Sanskriti typically features a leading South Asian band, accompanied by the playing of water colours (Holi) and a culminating midnight feast.
Notable mainstream performers
Sanskriti means "culture" in Bengali. The focal theme of all the culfests is usually Bengali culture, with a special "Bengali culture" day in the program. Emphasis is laid on ethnic Bengali art forms - some forms to have been featured recurrently have been the Baul genre of singing, and the Chhou dance. Notable Bengali performers from previous culfests include Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Manna Dey, Bhupen Hazarika, Anup Ghosal, Suman Chattopadhyay and Anjan Dutt. Leading Indian artists and groups like Parikrama, Krosswindz, Euphoria, Baiju Dharmajan, Indian Ocean and Motherjane have played at Sanskriti.
Theatre is also a very intrinsic part of Sanskriti. Sanskriti usually features three full-length plays (by the three faculties), as well as one or more guest plays by such noted theatre groups as Nandikar.
Bengali Rock and Sanskriti
The catchphrase for Sanskriti is Redefining culture. Sanskriti has brought about a significant shift in Bengali mainstream culture, by its promotion of Bengali rock from an alternative music form to a widely liked, and hugely popular medium. The initiators of Bengali rock - Mohiner Ghoraguli, performed at Sanskriti in the 1970s, even when they did not gain popular acceptance, as well as in the late 1990s and 2000s. 2002 even saw a memorial concert for the late founder of the band Gautam Chattopadhyay, with regrouped band members, and a live stage artist.
Notable second generation Bengali folk rock musicians Anjan Dutt and Suman Chattopadhyay have also been associated with Sanskriti.
Sanskriti also popularized Bangladeshi rock bands in Kolkata, flying in bands like Souls and Miles from Bangladesh for the open-air concert. This, along with Western Group music competitions, and patronage of local Bengali rock bands slowly caused Bengali rock to gain acceptance in other Kolkata culfests, and then among the larger Bengali music community.

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