Monday, 10 October 2022 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurated the Virasat art and heritage festival 2022 here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Dhami said, “I would like to express my gratitude to the entire team of Virasat for taking this initiative to promote our rich cultural heritage. Literature, music and art bring humility to people. Virasat provides a platform to represent our folk culture and enables local as well as international artists to showcase the immense talent that they possess.”
The festival began with one of Uttarakhand’s traditional folk dances ‘Cholia’ performed by key artist Geeta Sarri along with supporting artists Harish Kumar, Pratap Ram, Mohan Ram, Girish Kumar, Darshan Kumar, Raju Kumar, Kishan, Rohit and Raju. Chholia dance performance started with the arrival of the deities, followed by presentations like Nav Murti Madobaz, Chola Yudh and Minar.
In the next presentation, popular Kathak exponent Krishna Mohan presented a dance on the theme colors of Kathak conceptualised to carry forward culture and heritage. The performance started with the worship of lord Krishna, followed by presentations like the Hindu period, the Mughal period and Tarane Sufi. Additionally, he performed Kathak on a Ghazal, written and composed by him and also used fusion in rhythm while staying within a range, and especially paid a tribute to the composition by the late Pandit Birju Maharaj.
The last performance of the day was Shehnai performance by Ashwani and Sanjeev Shankar.
The duo said that the art has been in their family for over 300 years and they would like to take this tradition forward and reach as many people as possible.
During this 15-day festival, organisations from different States have set up stalls with various products. The stalls offer different types of cuisines, handlooms, handicrafts from different parts of the country, Afghan dry fruits, traditional crockery, Indian wooden crafts and bamboo crafts from Nagaland along with other stalls.
According to the organisers, the festival which will be held till October 23 is a platform for people to experience the art, culture, and music of the eminent masters of classical music and dance up close. The festival also features a crafts village, cuisine stalls, an art fair, folk music, Bollywood-style performances, heritage walks and more.
