Kolkata is one of the most precious cultural centers in India. The capital town of the West Bengal state has a unique character. This city holds numerous nicknames. Some call it the The city of Joy, some other name it as the City of Culture. Heritage and modern manners are merged together to give this city a unified trance of colors.
Kolkata city is known for British Raj reminders that preserve the memories of the British rule. The British presence is felt with its Victorian-style premeditated cable cars, as well as the palace classification. The folks of this city have made foremost energies to nurture the Indian culture. The city has unified the cultures of the Eastern and Western over the years. This has inspired the ingenuity of varied organizations that subsidize with the cultural life of Kolkata. LBB Kolkata has a lot more information if you want to explore more about the culture of Kolkata. Here are some reasons as to why Kolkata is called as the Cultural society or the City of Culture.
Bengali music and dance:
The Bengali culture of Kolkata is majorly reflected in its music and the dance forms, where the feeling of love, emotions, sadness, and happiness are expressed. As Kolkata is the loveable city of Bengalis, thus, is recognized across the world for its cultural varieties and richness. Music and dance play an important role in Bengali culture. As a city of Bengal, the traditions of Baul is a sole inheritance of Bengal folk music. Apart from Baul, there are numerous other categories of folk music like the Gajan, Kirtan, Bhawaiya and many more. The heritage of North Indian classical music is also inherited by the Kolkatans, nowadays.
The city is majorly identified for its appreciation of Rabindra Sangeet. Sri Rabindranath Tagore was the author of Rabindra Sangeet. He in his whole life has dedicatedly composed about 2230 songs. All these songs are peculiarly inherent with the Kolkatans? culture. Another iconic symbol of Kolkata is the music expert, Shri Ravi Shankar. Kolkata has also been involved impressively in the kingdom of the Hindi film and Bengali film music. The music legends like Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, S.D. Burman, Hemanta Kumar, R.D Burman have enhanced the music of Indian films with their dedicated involvement.
Recently, Kolkata music has got influenced by Western Culture and has given birth to the eminence of rock bands. Some of the popular rock bands are like Bhoomi, Cactus, Chandrabindu, and many more. These rock bands have followed the track of traditional folk music.
The folk culture of Bengal has also headed the Bengali dance. Kolkata was identified as a stage by the famous dance guru, or the famous dancer Sri Uday Shankar, for experimenting with the Indian dance with western form. Along with it, the dance masters here patronize numerous categories of classical dance forms over the cliques of Rabindrasangeet and Nazrul Geeti.
The Literature of Kolkata:
The Bengali linguistic brags a rich heritage in literary. This holds a tradition of folk literature for a long time. The Bengal Renaissance is majorly constituted with the hard work of the Bengali legends like Swami Vivekananda, Ram Mohan Roy, and others. Kolkata is famous across the world because of its admirable figure of Indian literature, Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. His music, poetry, and painting are echoing worldwide till date. He was Nobel awarded in the year 1913, because of his extremely refined, sensitive poetry lines. He was capable of articulating his rhythmical thoughts in his own words, in English. He was the first Asian to accept the Nobel award in Literature. Kolkata has made the country get enveloped as a cultural renaissance through centuries. There are others also, who have trailed the paths of Nobel Laureate Shri Rabindranath Tagore, for certifying a section of prosperous literature in Kolkata. Names of numerous admirable leaders come on the azure of Bengali literature, like, Shri Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sankha Ghosh and many more.
Kolkata Festivals:
Bengalis just need a reason to celebrate. The festive fever within Bengalis makes Kolkata highlighted among the entire country. A variety of festivals are arranged within this city and make the residents busy across the year. A plethora of festivals are arranged over the years, like Durga puja, Kali puja, Saraswati puja etc. The leading festival, as well as one of the grandest festival of the city, is Durga puja. The city is famous across the world because of its celebration of Durga puja with a faith that Good gets victory over Evil. This festival is massively celebrated, where Goddess Durga defeats the Demon Mahisasura in a ten days battle. This last day is known as Dashami. The artistic pandals structured for this puja catches the attention of the locals as well as the tourists worldwide.
Kolkata Cuisines:
The food of Bengalis heads an important part of Bengali culture along with its unique food recipes. Sweets of Kolkata like Rosogolla, Misti Doi and Sandesh have gained popularity across the world. In this City of Joy, you can experience some awesome street foods like pucka, churmuri, papri chaat, egg roll, etc. You can find more on popular eateries and restaurants in Kolkata by visiting LBB Kolkata's blog.
The Museums of Kolkata:
The custom of the city and the amusing culture has glanced within the museums of Kolkata which educates the folks from all over the world. Various aspects of the city are preserved within 30 museums. The oldest museum of Kolkata is the Indian Museum, which is about 200 years old. Here, you can get some treasured gathering of coins, as well as archaeological features. The influences of Britishers over Kolkata and India are the chronicle of Victoria Memorial Hall. The Ashutosh Museum of Art has showcased the folk art of the Bengal.
The Libraries of Kolkata:
Some precious collections are preserved and are nurtured in the Kolkata libraries. The people, who possess an interest in the heritage of the city as well as history, the Asiatic Society of Bengal is the perfect place for them. The other one is the National Library of Kolkata which is the prime library of India with a collection of over 2.2 million books. This library is nominated for collection, propagation, and safeguarding the printed material of Indian production. This also preserves the foreign published works about India. The other one is the Bengal Literary Society library which holds a collection of Bengali novels, short stories, jokes collection, pictures, etc.As a cultural capital of India, the only city that comes in mind is Kolkata. The sweetness of the people of this city will remain with you for a long long time.
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