The three-day Megha Utsav, a mega cultural extravaganza jointly organised by the Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy, the Odisha Sahitya Academy and the Odisha lalit Kala Academy ended here on Sunday night with enthralling folk dance from Bihar as the last show. Hundreds of people enjoyed a whole array of artistic performances including dancing and music, representing different parts of the country.
The last evening began with Odishi songs by Ashalata Sarangi of Rourkela followed by devotional songs of Padmashree Bharati Bandhu of Raipur. Both the singers were centres of attractions for the audiences. Thereafter, came Bibhuti Patnaik with Sambalpuri songs. It was followed by Odissi dance by the students of Utkal University of Culture. A dance composition –‘Barsha Pranaya’ related to Barsha (rain) by young boys and girls kept the audiences spell bound. Extracts from the great poets like Kalidas, Jaydev and Upendra Bhanja on rain was heard from the sonorous voice of the singers during the dance.
And folk dance from Bihar related to harvesting was the last performance. “Umral badriya chamke bijuriya…” was enough for the audience to tap their feet on the ground during the dance. Sarat Pujari, Siba Panigrahi, Ghasiram Mishra, Dr Dwarakanath Nayak, Dr Panchanan Mishra were present during the show. At the same time a good numbers local cultural organisations like Ukia, Rang Farua, lahari, Sambalpur Kalakendra extended their cooperation for the successful completion of the festival, which was organised at Sambalpur for the first time.