Last year due to the pandemic, the much-awaited Girnar Festival could not be conducted, creating disappointment for the performers and the local audience too. The 8th Girnar national festival of classical music and dance is an annual event featuring performers, classical dancers, singers and musicians in varied styles, from across the country and abroad too. More than 25 performers are expected to perform, that includes, solo, duets and group presentations and will commence on Friday 26th March and will conclude on 30th March at the Town Hall in Junagadh, two hours drive from Rajkot Airport in Gujarat.
Organised by Patel Cultural Foundation, Junagadh Municipal Corporation, Vividh Arts Entertainment with the support from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, the festival will be inaugurated by Dhirubhai Gohel, Mayor – Junagadh Municipal Corporation and Sailesh Dave, director of Girnar Sata Vikas Mandal. MK Patel of Patel Cultural Foundations says “So far we have not received any corporate support, but due to the support of some select well-wishers, we are looking forward to organizing this festival and the performers are quite excited as this is the first major festival of classical music and dance that will be organized. after the lockdown.”
The classical dances that will be performed in this five-day festival will be Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi and few performers of Mohiniattam and Kuchipudi and the music will be mainly Hindustani classical music. The festival commences with the wind instrument known as Sundari, which is the smaller version of the popular Shehanai, a duet concert by Gurunath and Goraknath Jadhav from Sholapur, followed by the elegant Odissi recital by Priyanka Pati from Ahmedabad, Sabely Mukherjee and group will perform Bharata Natyam and Ketki Wadekar will perform Kathak, the first day concludes with the Hindustani vocal recital by Tarjani Hirani from Rajkot.
The day second of the festival commences with the Sitar duet by Jigar and Nishad Mistry, followed by Bharatanatyam by Varsha Abhichandani and group from Pune. Priyanka Shinde and group from Mumbai will perform Kathak. The only Kuchipudi danseuse is an established performer from Hyderabad – Dr Surabhi L Sarada and the second day concludes with a vocal music recital by Dr Deepti G Parmar from Bhopal.
The third day, being a Sunday is expected to bring in more audience, commencing with the thrilling and rhythmic percussion music, a duet of Pakhawaj and Tabla by Dhawal Mistry and Madhav Purohit, followed with Odissi duet by Debamita Sahoo and Pratikshaya Samantray. Mohiniattam will be performed by the young talented dancer from Rajkot, Unnati Ajmera. Harsha Thakkar and group will enthral with her Kathak recital and the last performer will be a vocal recital by the talented Ashish Sable.
The fourth day will commence with the Tabla duet by Kapil Pandit and Vivek Vyas, followed by Odissi by two male dancers Dwarkanath Senapati and Banti Mondal from Bhubaneshwar. The only male Bharatanatyam dancer from Bangalore, Nidhaga Karunad will perform the vibrant Bharatanatyam, followed by Kathak recital by Angira Bhattacharya and the evening concludes with vocal recital by Snehal Jain and Bhakti Patel.
The finale day will commence with the melodious flute recital by Rishikesh Mazumdar from Mumbai, Kolkata’s Manojit Saha will perform Bharata Natyam. Shreshta Tripathi from Delhi will perform Kathak, Established teacher and performer Purvi Sheth from Rajkot will perform Bharata Natyam and the last performer will be the accomplished Kathak exponent from Mumbai, Chetan Saraiya along with his disciples. A festival that will be refreshing and rejuvenating for everyone.
