- published: 23 Mar 2015
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Bihu (Assamese: বিহু, Hindi: बिहू) denotes a set of three different cultural festivals of Assam and celebrated by the Assamese diaspora around the world. Though they owe their origins to ancient rites and practices they have taken definite urban features and have become popular festivals in urban and commercialized milieus in the recent decades. Bihu is also used to imply Bihu dance and Bihu folk songs. The Bihus are the national festivals of Assam. The most important festivals of Assam are the Bihus, celebrated with fun and abundance by all Assamese people irrespective of caste, creed, religion, faith and belief.
The word Bihu is derived from the language of the Dimasa people who have been agrarian since time immemorial. Their supreme god is Brai Shibrai or Father Shibrai. The First crops of the season are offered to Brai Shibrai while wishing for peace and prosperity. So Bi means "to ask" and Shu means "peace and prosperity" in the world. Hence the word BISHU gradually became Bihu to accommodate linguistic preferences.The other suggestion is that "Bi" means "to ask" and "Hu" means "to give" and so came BIHU. It was said by "Kalaguru" Bishnu Prasad Rabha . In Assam, Rongali Bihu draws from many different traditions— Austro-Asiatic, Sino-Burmese and Indo-Aryan—and is celebrated with great fervor. Celebrations begin in the middle of April and generally continue for a month. In addition there are two other Bihus: Kongali Bihu in October (associated with the September equinox) and Bhogali Bihu in January (associated with the January solstice). Like most other Indian festivals, Bihu (all three) is associated with farming; as the traditional Assamese society is predominantly agricultural. In fact, similar festivals are also celebrated around the same time elsewhere in India.
Zubeen Garg (Assamese: জুবিন গাৰ্গ, born 18 November 1972) is a singer and composer from Assam, India, in the Bollywood and Assamese music scene. He plays dhols, guitar, dotora, mandolin, keyboard and various percussion instruments.
Garg hails from Jorhat, a city in upper Assam. His birth name is Zubeen Borthakur. He was named after the great composer Zubin Mehta and uses his gotra name, Garg, as his surname. Garg was born to Mohan Borthakur, a famous lyricist, poet and a magistrate (who uses the pseudonym Kapil Thakur, and the late Ily Borthakur.
The Borthakur family has its roots in Janji, Sivasagar. Mohan Borthakur was a magistrate and he and his family moved often during Garg's early years. Ily Borthakur was a dancer, actress and singer, but she never turned these talents into a professional career. Instead, she decided to teach her son at home. Garg's younger sister Jongki Borthakur was a well-known singer and actress who died in a car accident in 2002 near Tezpur while they were going to perform stage show. There after Zubeen made an album known as "SHISHU" in memory of his late sister. Zubeen's other sister Palme, a bharatanatyam dancer, runs a dance academy in Guwahati.