Shyamhari Chakra
This is one of the countless promotional videos that Government of Odisha has been producing for publicity. However, with Odisha’s three gifted talents coming together, it was destined to go viral and hit headlines.
The trio – music composer Prem Anand, filmmaker Nilamadhab Panda and singer Rituraj Mohanty – who hardly need an introduction for the people of the State, have made this five-minute long video an attractive gateway to one of Odisha’s best kept secrets – the tribal life and culture.
The song has been penned by popular film lyricist Basant Raj Samal with budding singer Diptirekha as the female voice. The visuals highlight the music, dance, art, sport, lifestyle and customs of Odisha’s tribals besides the bewitching beauty of the landscape that they inhabit.
Aptly titled “Tribal Anthem of Odisha”, the beats and tunes of this musical video has echoes across the seven seas with popular American YouTube channel “Our Stupid Reactions” with its famed anchors eloquently praising it as “Odisha’s own musical richness and flavour”.
The presenters’ duo – Rick Segall, Hollywood film producer-actor-singer and YouTuber and Korbin Miles, another Hollywood Actor and YouTuber – have spared more than 15 minutes of their episode to discuss this five-minute video. Both of them were seen exclaiming and dancing in excitement over their first brush with Odisha’s thrilling tribal life and landscape.
“It was great. Brilliant. This song is heavy on dance. The dance and music are deeply entrenched. Such a beautiful song. Such a blend. At times, the music seems so Polynesian, sometimes it feels so African and then Indian. This blend is of three different kinds of music.
But in actual, it is not those things. It is Odisha’s own musical richness and flavour. This is really beautiful. This song is dedicated to the tribals of Odisha. This song is a beautiful labour of love “, they remarked during the show.
Though the video was made more than two years ago for the launch of Odisha Government’s Special Development Council with nine tribal districts, it got noticed by the channel barely nine months ago. Since then, it has attracted more than 59,000 viewers.
Interestingly, the video has evoked enough emotional response from Odisha’s own people, most of whom admit that they were unaware of the beauty of their homeland until the “Our Stupid Reactions” channel featured it.
“I am from Odisha but I grew up outside the state. This is for the first time that I am looking at its beauty through you. Never listened to my parents when they told me that their place is so beautiful,” commented Chandini over the channel.
“I am from Maharashtra and I didn’t know Odisha is so beautiful. Next trip has to be there,” wrote C.S.Aboli Pitre. It is one of the hundreds of happy remarks that the viral video has earned so far.
