12th Girnar Festival of classical music and dance will commence on 7th November in Junagadh, near Rajkot (Gujarat), organised by Patel Cultural Foundation jointly with Shree Patel Kelavani Mandal, Junagadh, with the support from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The five days festival will conclude on 11 November with the participation of more than twenty five performers, in classical music, vocal , instrumental and classical dances featuring young and bright performers.
The highlight of this year is the participation of performers from foreign countries like South Korea with Surbahar recital by Wonseok, Bharata Natyam by Roopa Kiran from Hong Kong, Dr Andrei Dragoi with a flute recital from Switzerland, Dr Dimple Nair and Sneha Nambiar from Doha and Muscat respectively for a Mohiniattam recital. The festival will be conducted at RS Kataria and NP Bhalodia School Ground, opposite Housing Colony, College Road, Junagadh. CA Savjibhai M Menpara, Kantibhai G. Fadadu are the president and Managing Trustee of Shri Patel Kelavani Mandal. Kishore Bhai Chavda, Rajay Thakkar, Shailesh Pandya, Vinubhai Patel and MK Patel are the key members of the Patel Cultural Foundation (Mumbai). Comperes of the festival are Anand Singh and Narhari and the Festival critic is Guru Vijay Shanker.
The festival commences with an interesting Pakhwaj and Tabla percussion rhythmic dialogue by Prashant K Gharat and Sandeep from Mumbai, followed with the enthralling Kathak recital by Rohit Parihar and Hinal Panchal, disciples of the famous Pt Rajendra Gangani from Ahmedabad. Dynamic couple dancers from Tumkur (Karnataka) in the Bharata Natyam style – Dr Sagar and Ratika. Bright Kathak dancers from New Delhi Sharvi Sharma and Mehak Vohra, disciples of veteran Kathak danseuse Nandini Singh will entertain the audience with rhythmic delight. Accomplished Kuchipudi exponent Rama Koundinya (Srikakulam) from Andhra Pradesh will dance with his disciple Ann Neha Thomas. The first day music and dance session concludes with Hindustani vocal recital by Atul Dandoriya from Gwalior.
The second day. Saturday features Kathak recital by Jeta K Patel, followed with the stringed instrument Sur Bahar by Wonseok from South Korea. The highlight performance will be the thematic presentation “Ashru Dhara” pertaining to the significance of the holy river Ganga in the contemporary context by veteran Bharata Natyam danseuse Dr Lata Surendra and her talented disciples. Akhilesh Chaturvedi along with his disciple Sweety from Surat will entertain you with his command over complex rhythmic footwork in the Kathak style. The elegant Mohiniattam will be performed by accomplished exponents like Dr Dimple Nair(Doha,Qatar), Sneha Nambiar (Muscat), Unnati Ajmera (Rajkot) and Nayana Prakash (Mumbai). Disciples of Guru Asha Nambiar from Mumbai – Mandar Chauhan and Siddharth Rane will render a graceful Odissi duet performance. The evenings musical performances concludes with Hindustani Dhrupad vocal recital by Aakash Tiwari and Piyush Patil.
Sunday session commences with the Carnatic musical ensemble Swaralaya Sangeet Vidyalaya (Mumbai) with Samarpanam featuring the Violin,Konakkol,Ghatam (Earthern pot) and Mridangam by Madhusudan Nair, Bharata Natyam by Prisha G Jaria from Rajkot and Kathak by Doli Thakkar from Rajkot. Accomplished Mohiniattam danseuse from New Delhi Dr Rekha Raju along with her disciples will excite you with her lyrical performance. Mumbai’s leading male Bharata Natyam exponent and founder director of Shivoham Academy will be the special attraction of the evening. Manipuri dancers Purbita Mukherjee and Arundhati Datta will please you with the soft and graceful movements, The evening session concludes with the rhythmic Kathak performance by Sikha Bhattacharya and Koyel De from Kolkata.
Monday, the second last day of the festival commences with the percussion Pakhwaj ensemble by Pt Keshav Jagdale group from Pandharpur. Another highlight of the festival is theatre art form of Karnataka – Yakshagana by Ankita Naik as Bhasmasura, Tanishka Jain as Mohini and Manasi Walhekar as Shiva, this will be a dramatic fantasy of the festival. Accomplished Kathak danseuse from Jabalpur Papiya Mallick will render a duet performance along with her daughter and disciple Sinka Mallick. Kuchipudi Bhama Kalapam will be performed by Nartan Nritya Vinod from Ahmedabad. The evening session concludes with Hindustani vocal music recital by Ghulam Haider Khan and Aadil Abbas Khan.
The last day of the festival commences with Odissi performance by Krityea Narsing Rana from Mumbai, Bharata Natyam by Roopa Kiran from Hong Kong, Accomplished Mohiniattam exponent from New Delhi – Megha Nair, disciple of the famous veteran danseuse Bharati Shivaji, the only solo male dancer from Hyderabad to perform Vilasini Natyam is Sanjay Kumar Joshi, disciple of the renowned danseuse Swapnasundari. Ardent disciple of the legendary Pt Gopikrishna – Vaibhav Joshi will render a Kathak-Odissi jugalbandi along with Samruddhi Joshi, The finale performer of the festival will be enchanting flute recital by Dr Andrei Dragoi from Switzerland. All the performers will be felicitated with the Girnar Ratna title. So do not miss this amazing festival of classical music and dance, if you are around Junagadh in Gujarat.
