A musical evening was dedicated entirely to encourage the arts and culture of African nations. The event, which was organised by DIAF, saw many mesmerising performances by folk dancers and local bands. By A Mishra
The stage was set with the musical instruments, perfect lighting effects, mysterious white smoke and an immense crowd sitting in front of the stage. As we entered in the Nehru Park, we knew that it was going to be a packed venue as we couldn’t even find a seat for us.
The show started with the performance of a folk dance from Uttarakhand. As many as 15 dancers performed on chholiya dance form, accompanied by war like music which they played on their own instruments like turi, nagphani andransingh, equipped with swords,. Their footstpes matched perfectly as they danced in a flawless synchronised manner.
This was followed by several other folk dances in a row like – Rajasthani folk dance, Saila dance from Chhattisgarh and many more. Each group performed for two to three minutes and that was enough to win many hearts present at the venue.
The magic of these dance forms was followed by a Delhi based band. As the band started their performance with the song Main Toh Piya Se Naina lada Aayi Re, their melodious voice enchanted the crowd and made the environment soothing and calm. In the later part of the evening, the band chose to play their own songs giving a fresh break from the monotony of Bollywood numbers.
The evening of Delhi International arts Festival (DIAF) was dedicated to appreciate and encourage the art and culture of the African countries. Egyptian Melevi, a group from Egypt came to perform Dervish. Anarel Tonoi, a member of the group said, “Our performance is a sufi performance, we have both oriental and instrumental performance and we have four dervish dancers.”
The first song on which they performed was a dialogue with Allah to help them and to fulfill their wishes and second song was about Prophet Mohammad. The dervish dance started with the slow moves and then it became faster and faster. “The actual performance takes three to four hours but here we are getting only forty minutes to perform,” said Tonoi.
Another performance was from Euthopia by the group Yetemesgenlijoch traditional dance group. They showed the culture and costumes of different countries through their performance. Abey Hailu, the manager of the group said, “We have planned to show the original culture of different countries through our performance. The dancers will change their dress one by one to show the costumes of the countries for continuous 24 minutes.”
photos Pankaj Kumar