Maharashtra's Anil Bhimrao Kolekar, family perform Dhangari Gaja dance at Tribal Dance Festival

Raipur (Chattisgarh) [India], November 4 (ANI): Maharashtra's Anil Bhimrao Kolekar and his family members are the only artist group who promoted the Dhangari Gaja Tribal dance in the National Tribal Dance Festival which makes them unique for preserving the Tribal dance.
In the three-day Tribal Dance Festival, Koelkar and his family performed their tribal dance.
"We have come from Sangli district in Maharashtra. We are here to perform our tribal dance, which is called Dhangari Gaja. It is a 100-year-old tradition and 20 generations have been performing and all performers are our family members," Kolekar told ANI here.
Kolekar and his family members were delighted with the treatment and the warm hospitality of Chattisgarh.
Talking about the opportunity they seek through the National Tribal Dance festival, he said it helps to get more employment and improve their financial condition.
"Tribal festival gives a good opportunity to become visible and also this will spread. People will get more employment and improve their performance," he added.
Apart from Kolekar's family, African origin Siddi tribe, who came to India 850 years ago, also performed at the Tribal Dance Festival. A Maldivian tribal group also participated in the event where they sang some chart-busting Hindi numbers like 'Kajra Mohabbat Wala' and 'Lal Meri Pat' at the National Tribal Dance Festival in Raipur.
The audience was left spellbound when the singers hummed to the tunes of the famous 'Omkara' song 'Beedi Jalayi Le'. Mass hoots and enthusiasm reverberated at the venue as the group sang the hit item number.
The three-day event is taking place at Raipur's Science beginning on the state's founding day - November 1.
More than 1,500 tribal performers from India and ten other nations, including Mozambique, Mongolia, Tongo, Russia, Indonesia, Maldives, Serbia, New Zealand, and Egypt, are performing at the event.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the festival on Tuesday.
While inaugurating the festival, the chief minister said that the National Tribal Dance Festival has given a great opportunity to tribals across the world to share each other's thoughts and experiences. He said that there is a remarkable similarity in instruments, rhythm and feel of every tribal dance form, which proves that there is a special bond that unites all of them.
He revealed that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been reached between the State Government and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi to provide an opportunity and platform to the tribal artists of Chhattisgarh to perform abroad, which will increase the scope for the spread and exchange of tribal culture. (ANI)