Reading Colonial Cultural Transactions: Depiction of Nineteenth-Century European Singer-Songwriter in Plays Written in Bengali

Antony Firingi, a European kabiyal of early nineteenth-century Calcutta gained attention from the Bengali audience for his participation in a folk song popularly known as kabigan. Adopting Indian culture and practicing them was not something new in British India, and the theme of ‘crossing cultures’ or ‘going native’ was commonly found in the writings produced during the colonial period. However, in this paper attempt will be to work at the intersection of literature and history so as to have a broader understanding of the Bengali plays which are written on Antony Firingi by the twentieth and twenty-first century Bengali playwrights. This would help to address the reasons behind the continuous depiction of this European kabiyal in Bengali popular culture. Therefore, by critically analysing the plays, screenplay, newspaper reports, memoirs, and an interview conducted with one of the recent writers of the play would help to reconstruct the significance of a poet and singer-songwriter, Antony Firingi to the cultural milieu not just of his age but of following ages as well