The five-day 20th Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra Award Festival commenced with great enthusiasm and excitement among the art connoisseurs thronging the Rabindra Mandap here on Friday. This year’s festival is being held with a specific aim to create awareness and to sustain the Indian classical traditions in dance and music with all its pristine glory.
The opening presentation was by noted Odishi dancer Ramli Ibrahim. His first item was the invocatory dance with a verse dedicated to Hari Hara, the powerful composite god of both Vishnu and Shiva reflected with Sabda Swara Pada of the Deba Prasad style.
His second performance was Priya Charusile taken from Jayadeva’s 12th century Gita Govinda, the repentant Krishna eventually anguished by his separation from his beloved Radha, pleading with her ardently, ‘Priye Charushile’. Ibrahim’s final dance, Asta Shambu, was a composition of the late Guru Debaprasad Das, describing the eight-fold forms of lord Shiva together with his attributes and mythic episodes connected with him.
The second presentation of the inaugural evening was by eminent Carnatic classical flute player Shashank Subramanyam, who mesmerised the art lovers with his instrument till the end.
The eminent persons who graced the occasion were Union Miister Dharmendra Pradhan and Srjan Director Guru Ratikanta Mohapatra. The programme was compered by Srinivas Ghatuari.