The Lost Art of Alkap

Our past is stored in the nooks and corners of villages. City culture today dismisses rural folk forms like Alkap as unsophisticated and ridiculous, but it holds immense significance to the people who perform and watch it. Like any other art form, Alkap is also a work of effort. It has more intricacies than we can imagine.

The Performance of Alkap; Source: IndiaNetZone

Folk traditions witness a community’s long-standing cultural and ethnic past. The ‘written’ comes much later; it is the oral tradition whose existence dates back to the earliest days of society. Almost every cultural community of India possesses some folk tradition of its own, most of which are declining steadily in the face of rapid urbanization and changing demands of audiences.

Today’s generation prefers cinema and web series for their share of entertainment, but even in pre-modern times, before the invention of smartphones and television, a world of art existed in the form of folk theatrical traditions. One such form is Alkap, a theatrical offshoot of Jatra, which is a form of theatre in rural Bengal. Back in the day, Alkap was popular in Murshidabad, Malda, and Birbhum districts of West Bengal and Rajshahi in Bangladesh.

Despite being similar to Jatra, which is one of the better-known folk forms of Bengal, Alkap retains its uniqueness of style and deliverance. The name itself is suggestive because ‘al’ means bee-sting and ‘kap’ means satire or farce, so ‘alkap’ means a satirical dramatic presentation that stings like a bee. Performed primarily in villages where ballads were sung along with dialogues and dance, this served as a meeting ground for different religious communities. It also provided an accessible and relatable form of entertainment to the working class.

Alkap employed imitation or parody to poke fun at powerful people or institutions that plague the lives of the powerless. However, Alkap had its origins in religion. It is associated with the Gajan festival of Lord Shiva, celebrated mostly in West Bengal. It commemorates the marriage of Shiva and Harakali, an incarnation of the goddess Parvati. Alkap was a form celebrating this momentous event, and only after the 1920s did the content begin to alter. The tonality of this theatrical form became sarcastic and the presentation was in the form of a spoof to represent social injustices and mythological tales. This overnight theatrical performance used to enjoy considerable leniency while the performers caricatured their local kings and zamindars. The witty, rustic sexual overtones contributed to the comic element.

The dance of the chokhras; Source: Atyutka

Like a Jatra troupe, Alkap also had a group of ten to twelve members, including the ostad, koppe, chokhra and musicians. Theatre groups as we know the today were heavily influenced by folk forms. Most of the actors of alkap were craftsmen, artisans, and peasants. Performing was not their only source of income. Being primarily a source of entertainment, alkap thus dealt with several issues of oppression in their daily lives, albeit in a humorous way. Often, domestic scenes of quarrels were also depicted to evoke laughter. However, since every serious art form requires order and discipline, each member had distinct roles to perform. The Ostad, or captain, was responsible for the group’s contracts for performances. He would have to be an expert in dancing, singing, acting, and recitation, often composing music and poetry on the spot. Koppe was the central protagonist, responsible for infusing the element of laughter in the performance. This laughter did not arise only from physical comedy and involved humorous dialogues and songs. Chokhras were young men cross-dressing as women who had to dance and sing during the performance. They had to grow their hair, wear bangles on their wrists and act like women in behavior. However, nowadays, women have also begun performing in the group.

An ideal Alkap performance was usually in parts: it started with the jayadhwani or invocation of various gods and goddesses. This is a common element in most folk forms. Musical instruments like the harmonium, tabla, kartal, and flute were employed in the invocation. It was succeeded by devotional songs, and dance of the chokhras in various styles like jhumur, khemta, and baiji. A duet song followed, along with a lyrical monologue of the ostad. This monologue was generally about contemporary social issues. Finally, the main performance of the kap would follow. An unrehearsed, spontaneous dramatic performance, this was the show’s main attraction.

Despite being considered a product of low culture in urban intellectual taste, Bengal has produced several outstanding alkap artists like Dhananjay Mondal, Syed Mustafa Siraj, Naimuddin Biswas among others. With the growth of urban theatre and city-centric culture, the concept of performing troupes began getting outdated. This was happening simultaneously with the British Raj expanding in India, and colonisation was a major reason why folk forms of rural regions began to be looked down upon as unsophisticated and unruly. The urban middle-class and westernised Bengalis started preferring theatre in its modern sense, than watching a jatra pala or alkap performance. Since the root of alkap was in rural Bengal, the folk form had become a ground of intersectionality, inviting artists of all backgrounds to the stage. Their identity as artists came prior to their individual backgrounds of religion and caste. Bengal's population being a harmonious blend of Hinduism and Islam manifested in Alkap, producing actors, musicians, dancers, and reciters of the finest quality. Since the purpose of the form was subversive, it would naturally be wielded by the marginalized. Today, the original form is almost on the verge of extinction. With the growth of city-centric politics, this folk form will inevitably gradually disappear into oblivion. However, we must attempt to remind ourselves from time to time about our rich and varied past, culture, and heritage.