Assam is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of 78,438 km2 (30,285 sq mi). The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh to the south; and West Bengal to the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India. Assamese is the official and most commonly spoken language of the state, followed by Bengali, which is official in the Barak Valley and Bodo which is official in Bodoland Territorial Region.
Guwahati is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. A major riverine port city along with hills, and one of the fastest growing cities in India, Guwahati is situated on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. It is called the 'Gateway to North East India'.
The music of Assam consists various genres of folk and modern music, drawing its artistic basis from the history of Assam, from Assamese culture and its ancient traditions. In recent times, starting from the late eighties, popular artistes have modernized the music catering to local popular demand.
Bhabendra Nath Saikia was a novelist, short-story writer and film director from Assam, India. He won many literary awards, including Sahitya Academy (1976), and was also recognised with the Padma Shri.
Khagen Mahanta was a singer and composer of folk and traditional music of Assam. Khagen Mahanta was a notable person in Assamese folk music and known as the "King of Bihu". His Bihu songs, Borgeet and other folk songs remain popular in Assam. The artist, along with his wife Archana Mahanta and son Angaraag Mahanta who is known as Papon, represent one of the most influential families in Assamese music. He died on 12 June 2014.
Gauhar Jaan was an Indian singer and dancer from Kolkata. She was one of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India, which was later released by the Gramophone Company of India and resulted in her being known as "the Gramophone girl" and "the first recording superstar of India". Having recorded more than 600 songs in more than ten languages between 1902 and 1920, Jaan is credited with popularising Hindustani classical music such as thumri, dadra, kajri, and tarana during the period.
Goalpariya Lokogeet is a folk music of Goalpara, sung to traditional lyrics. It is sung by goalpariya language speaking people. It was primarily Pratima Barua Pandey, who raised the profile of this hitherto unknown genre of music nationally in India. This genre of music is being kept alive by the Koch Rajbongshi community in their music festivals. Currently, albums of Goalpariya songs are released commercially; and Goalpariya musical motifs and instruments are increasingly used in popular music in India. Some noted singers are Bina Das Borthakur, Mini Bhattacharya, Nazmul Hoque, Allauddin Sarkar, Hamida Sarkar, Abdul Jabber, Rahima Begum Kalita Anisur Ayaan to mention a few.
Rita Chowdhury is an Indian poet, novelist and Sahitya Akademi Award recipient in the world of Assamese literature. She has been an associate professor in Cotton College, Guwahati, Assam in Political Science Department since 2001. She is currently the Director of National Book Trust, India.
Srutimala Duara is a bilingual writer from Assam, India. She writes in English and Assamese.
Rameshwar Pathak was an acclaimed Kamrupi Lokgeet singer from Kamrup, Assam, India. He also worked as a teacher in Arya Vidyapeeth Higher Secondary and Multipurpose School, Guwahati from 1963 to 1996.
Angaraag Mahanta, known by his stagename Papon, is an Indian playback singer from Assam. Papon has also sung in many languages apart from Assamese like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi. He is the lead singer and founder of the folk-fusion band Papon and The East India Company.
Beauty Sharma Barua is a singer from Assam, India. She is one of the best-known and most respected Assamese folk music, Indian classical music, ghazal and bhajan singers of Assam. More popularly known as The Melody Queen of Assam and Beauty Baideu, she has recorded over a thousand songs for All India Radio, Doordarshan, albums and others. She has sung songs in over six regional Indian languages, though primarily in Assamese and Hindi. Beauty Barua married renowned writer and lyricist Dwijendra Mohan Sharma (1948–2006), called the Man with Melody in His Pen by The Daily Telegraph, in 1976.
Bhaben Barua is an Assamese poet born in 1941.
Queen Hazarika is an Indian playback singer and actress from Assam. She has sung for Assamese films like Garam Botaah, Mon, Suren Suror Putek and Sneh Bandhan. She is the recipient of Rotary Young Achiever Award in 2013. In the same year she was nominated for Prag Cine Awards in the Best Female Playback category.
Kalpana Patowary is an Indian playback and folk singer from Assam. She sings in 30 languages and has many folk and popular songs to her credit, while Bhojpuri music has been her most dedicated foray. In his book, Cinema Bhojpuri, Avijit Ghosh lauds Patowary for her "remarkable contribution" to Bhojpuri film music. "Gifted with a rich, powerful and sensuous voice, the singer from Assam is almost considered mandatory for any film's score," he writes.
Anindita Paul is an Indian singer.
Amarjyoti Choudhury is an Indian educationist, scientist, actor, reciter, playwright, poet, novelist, orator and editor. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University and a former Pro-vice-chancellor of Tezpur University. After superannuation from Tezpur University, he occupied the CV Raman Chair of Applied Physics and later that of Vice-chancellor of University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya. He was also the Vice-Chancellor of Assam down town University from 1 December 2017 to 31 August 2020. Now, he is the editor of renowned Assamese daily Dainik Asam.
Dr. Bobby Sarma Baruah is a National and International Award winning Indian Film Maker, Producer and Screenwriter whose narrative content on socio-cultural issues in Assam and the North East has been highly appreciated. Her debut feature film Adomya in which she explored the sensitivity and emotional world of women was awarded the best film in the spiritual category at the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival.
Suchibrata Roychoudhury was an Assamese litterateur and poet, and the first female Judicial Magistrate of Assam as a Assam Civil Services officer. She received the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 2001 for translating Suvira Jaiswal's The Origin and Development of Vaishnavism in India.
