Reading Zubeen Garg: Art, Memory, and the Northeast in EFLU, Shillong on 26–27 March 2026

What does it mean for a voice to become a generation’s memory? What happens when music turns into dissent, cinema into reflection, and performance into philosophy? This March, EFLU, Shillong becomes the site of such a compelling inquiry centred on one of Northeast India’s most influential cultural figures, Zubeen Garg.

On 26–27 March 2026, the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication and English Language Education at the English and Foreign Languages University host an ICSSR NERC-sponsored National Seminar titled “Society and Culture in Art and Philosophy of Life: Understanding the Cultural Praxis and Epoch-making of Zubeen Garg and the North-East India”. Conceived as more than an academic exercise, the seminar opens up a dynamic space where art meets analysis, and lived experience intersects with critical thought.

For over three decades, Zubeen Garg’s creative journey across music, cinema, poetry, and public life has not merely entertained but profoundly shaped the cultural imagination of Assam and the wider Northeast.

His works echo with questions of identity, belonging, resistance, and emotional memory, making him not just an artist but a cultural text in him.

This two-day gathering brings together an extraordinary ensemble of voices. The keynote address will be delivered by noted author and filmmaker Parthajit Baruah on the theme ‘Zubeen Garg as Cinematic Text: Performance, Stardom and the Aesthetics of the North-East Screen’.

Adding intimate and personal dimensions to the discourse are Zubeen’s childhood friend and columnist Hemchandra Pathak, and his first manager Jayanta Bordoloi.

The seminar will be conducted in association with Assam Tribune Digital and walso features distinguished artist Sabita Sharma from Jorhat; scholar Dr. Pallavi Devi from Gauhati University who is currently working on a book on Zubeen; cultural curator Avinibesh Sharma from Vintage Hub, Jorhat; academic Dr. Palme Borthakur; and legendary musician Lou Majaw, among many others creating a rare interdisciplinary confluence of scholars, artists, and practitioners.

Beyond paper presentations and panel discussions, the seminar will carry moments of collective emotion and celebration. A special student-led tribute to Zubeen, alongside a curated photo exhibition, will attempt to capture the many shades of the artist, his public persona and his deeply personal resonance.

At its heart, this seminar is an invitation to rethink popular culture as a serious site of knowledge, to read art as philosophy, and to listen more closely to the stories that shape a region’s consciousness.

For those who have lived through Zubeen’s songs or are only beginning to discover them—this is not just a seminar. It is a cultural moment.

For more information, you may write to : nationalseminarzg@gmail.com

EFLU, Shillong Campus is located at Umshing, Mawkynroh in Shillong.

(The views, opinions, and claims in this article are solely those of the author’s and do not represent the editorial stance of The Assam Tribune)