Reviving the traditional arts of flute and puppetry at City Palace

Encouraging the traditional arts and crafts of Rajasthan, flute, algoza and puppetry making are being taught at the summer training programme at City Palace Museum. Participants from the age 8 to above 30 are participating in these workshops. Initially after learning fundamentals of the instruments, their positioning angles and sound techniques, participants are now practicing various ragas. Through the course of the workshop, they will be taught sargam, alankar and various ragas along with popular folks of Rajasthan. Workshop facilitator RD Gaur who has been practicing flute for 40 years and a nearly extinct traditional instrument, algoza, for over 28 years, informed that learning these instruments enhances coordination, memory and concentration power apart from being a stress booster.children learning the art of puppet makingAs a part of this workshop, participants are also learning to make puppets along with the entertaining art of puppetry. The facilitator, Ravi Bhat is teaching the whole process of making a wooden puppet from cutting a piece of wood, carving it, stitching clothes for the puppet and attaching strings. He informed that while some participants are more inclined towards stitching and making of puppets, the others are enjoying making them dance on music. The tales of ‘Amar Singh Rathore’, ‘Nani Bai ka Maira’ and ‘Narsingh Bhagat ke Kisse’ will be taught to the participants.