This article explores the parallel economy of YouTubers in Purulia, West Bengal, which has emerged alongside the platformisation of the nachni performance tradition. An internet revolution unfolded in rural India following Jio’s introduction of cheap data packs in 2016, alongside the increasing availability of low-budget smartphones with cameras and access to video-browsing applications such as YouTube. In the years that followed, young men in Purulia began engaging with the internet and embarked on their journeys as content creators. Their motivation was to record, edit and upload videos of nachni performances, along with other ‘folk’ traditions of Purulia, to preserve the region’s cultural heritage. However, this motivation was not merely archival but was also driven by aspirations for alternative digital careers in a space previously monopolised by urban, educated actors. Based on ethnographic research among the nachnis and the YouTubers, who travel with them to local night-time performances, this article examines how village YouTubers, as part of the platform economy, mediate cultural heritage through the framework of gaze, digital labour and vernacular aesthetics.

Nachni, performance, YouTube, platform economy, platformisation, vernacular aesthetics

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