Treats for culture lovers at annual fest

BHUBANESWAR: It was a memorable evening for classical art connoisseurs as noted Odissi dancer Ramli Ibrahim performed on the inaugural evening of the 20th Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival at Rabindra Mandap on Friday.
The five-day festival of classical dance and music is a much-awaited event in the state's cultural calendar.
"He is expression personified.Nothing else can make an evening perfect for me than a performance by Ramli," said Debjani Rath, a dance aficionado. The second artist of the evening was flute maestro and Grammy nominee Shashank Subramanyam, who accompanied table exponent Zakir Hussain.
Organized by Srjan, the Odissi dance institute established by Odissi exponent Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, several eminent as well as promising young artists from across the country will make the festival special this year. The second evening on Saturday was equally entertaining as young Bharatnatyam dancer Vaibhav Arekar regaled the audience with an amazing blend of innovation and tradition.
His performance, followed by the power-packed performance by famous percussionist Anandan Sivamani from Mumbai, left the crowd asking for more. Sivamani played several instruments at a time with drums and presented a fusion piece. "I have seen him performing on TV but never saw him live. He is mind-blowing and I cannot forget the show as long as I live," said Mohit Sahu, a college student.
Other major artistes to perform at the festival are Odissi dancer Daksha Mashruwala and group, violin player Deepak Pandit, Kathak dancer Prashant Shah, sitar player Neeladri Kumar. On the concluding day, artists of Srjan will present ?Kubjaa', a neoclassical innovation in dance choreographed by Odissi guru Ratikant Mohapatra.
"For the last 19 years we have continued the tradition of awarding deserving persons who contributed immensely to their respective fields. We try to provide a mix of famous performers and some relatively new names who are all artistes of quality. Apart from the obvious novelty of a star performer, the added benefit is a new generation of dance and music," said director Srjan, Ratikant Mohapatra.
The prestigious Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award will be given to four noted personalities from the fields of dance, music, theatre and cinema on the concluding day on September 9.
The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award for 2014 will be given to Guru Sudhakar Sahoo for dance, Niranjan Satapathy for theatre, Pandit Umesh Chandra Kar for music and Prasant Nanda for contribution to Odia cinema. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will give away the awards.