Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra has been a priceless jewel in Indian cultural canvas. A festival of dance and music in his memory is a worthy initiative,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stated this while inaugurating the 23rd annual Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival at the Rabindra Mandap here on Tuesday evening.
Accompanied by Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, former Commissioner of Culture Ashok Kumar Tripathy and Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, the Chief Minister made a brief appearance at the inaugural ceremony and felicitated the artistes who performed during the evening.
“I congratulate all of you who are performing in this festival,” he said in his address in Odia.
The festival kicked off with an impressive and innovative dance production featuring three Mumbai based senior dancers representing three Indian classical dance styles –Kathak, Odishi and Bharatanatyam by Uma Dogra, Daksha Mashruwala and Vaibhav Arekar respectively. Aptly titled Ekatatwa, it was an attempt to explore the common features inherent in the three distinctly different dance traditions.
“Though I have been a Kathak dancer, watching and meeting Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra in my city of Mumbai has highly inspired me in my journey as a dancer. While Daksha switched over from Bharatanatyam to Odishi after watching the Guru and became his disciple, he has been an idol for Vaibhav. Thus, three of us decided to present this production in Odisha in honour of the great master in this festival hosted in his memory,” shared Kendra Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner Uma Dogra, Mumbai’s most celebrated Kathak exponent.
A major attraction of the inaugural evening was Bengaluru-based flutist and composer Annada Prasanna Pattnaik who hails from Odisha’s Keonjhar town.
With about 1,000 (one thousand) films to his credit as a flutist, he has collaborated with Grammy Awardee Ricky Keji, besides being a familiar face on MTV. “Though I have been performing all over the world, performing in my homeland brings me the greatest joy and pride.
I hardly got any chance to perform in my own State,” remarked the well-established artiste who has been successful in classical, fusion and film music.
Accompanied by Bengaluru-based Veena player Pushpa Kashinath and table player Udayaraj Karpur, he presented raag Yaman and Bhairavi in a unique blend of the Hindustani and Carnatic styles of Indian classical music.
“It has been my aim to present the best of artistes from our State at this festival that presents great masters and exponents of dance and music with national and global recognition,” said Ratikant Mohapatra, festival director and curator who is the son of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. The third evening of the festival will have a special musical concert comprising Odisha’s artistes, he added.