leave spectators enthralled
Chilled winter evening. Open air gallery. Dust-filled air and ground. But the audience was oblivious to all this as they enjoyed the performances of the folk artists who came from all over the country for the 18th Sambalpur lok Mahotsav held on the Pandit Nilamadhav Panigrahi Manch at the Gangadhar Meher College ground here on Saturday.
Be it Bihu of Assam, Ghumar of Haryana, Kalbelia of Rajasthan or Jhumar of Mayurbhanj, the artists kept the audience spellbound for hours together.
“Even if most of the dances were repetitions of the previous years, but they look new each time. That is a reason why I enjoy the dances. The variety speaks of the rich culture of our country,” saod Arati Sahu, a school teacher, adding that lok Mahotshav enriches culture and helps revive our art.
The other performances were Karma of Sundargarh, Ghudukudu of Balangir, Ranappa of Ganjam, Chutkuchuta of Birmaharajpur and the incredible Dalkhai of Sambalpur. All the folk dances were the centre of attraction during the ice cold evening. And the audience couldn’t but tap their feet on the ground to the tune of the dances in every event.
The trick of lifting a golden ring (suna mudi) from the ground by the eye brows by artists from Rajasthan during the Kalbelia dance was an utter surprise for the audience.
The entire ground got filled with clapping as a mark of applause when the unique but tricky performance was underway. Kalbelia is a folk dance performed to show the trick of snake charmers who move from village to village in search of livelihood. Even the number of snake charmers has got reduced drastically amid modernity and also due to restriction for keeping snakes, but artists of Rajasthan keep the dance form alive.
The Bihu of Assam, an agrarian dance, was also another attraction of the evening. Even though the local Sambulpuri dance has some resemblance with the Bihu but people enjoyed it to their heart’s content. The folk dances by Odisha troupes were also quite nerve-stirring and provided enough amusement to the audiences.
Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya inaugurated the festival by lightning lamp before Maa Samaleswari. The District Collector, the SP and other dignitaries of the district were present.