Saturday, 08 APRIL 2023 | PNS | PITHORAGARH
Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is preparing to write a book on the legendary folk singer Kabutari Devi. When the book will be published the youth will get the opportunity of getting acquainted with her rich legacy in the realm of hill folk songs.
Kabutari Devi was born in Champawat in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. Mention worthy, she was the first woman folk singer from the Kumaon region to be featured on All India Radio. In the 1970s, she sang more than a hundred folk songs for All India Radio broadcast from its centers of Rampur, Najibabad, Lucknow and Mumbai. During those days, millions of people were her admirers.
She was long known as the voice of the hills as her songs beautifully captured the moods of the hill women as well as the men engaged in life’s struggle for survival. Those who researched her say that her early life itself was a grim struggle and that is why the life reflected in her songs was so real. Kabutari Devi passed away on July 7, 2018. The team, engaged in writing the book on the now-forgotten folk singer, came to Pithoragarh recently from Delhi to collect detailed information about her life.
