The stage is set for the 23rd edition of the annual Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra memorial festival of dance and music at the Rabindra Mandap here commencing on Tuesday, coinciding with the Guru Divas celebrations. The five-day event is being hosted by city-based Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa, the Odishi dance institution founded by the Odishi legend.
The inaugural evening would feature Ekatatwa, a classical dance concert featuring three eminent dancers from Mumbai representing three Indian classical dance traditions, Odishi by Daksha Mashruwala, Kathak by Uma Dogra and Bharatanatyam by VaibhavArekar. It would be followed by a jugalbandi of flute and veena by Bengaluru based veteran Odia flutist and composer Annada Prasanna Pattanaik and gifted Carnatic veena artist Pushpa Kashinath from the same city.
Solo recitals would mark the second evening of the festival that would feature US-based Bharatanatyam dancer Navia Natarajan followed by tabla recital by Ojas Adhiya from Mumbai.
The third evening of the festival would be an exclusive presentation of Odisha’s musicians. Ten established artistes of the State, Satchidananda Das, Kulamani Sahoo, Srinibas Satapathy, Agnimitra Behera, Kshiti Prakash Mohapatra, Biswaranjan Nanda, Deba Ranjan Nayak, Ramesh Chandra Behera, Samir Ranjan Pradhan and Bikashita Sahu –would stage a concert of fusion music.
The fourth evening would feature solo Kathak recital by Ahmedabad-based Sanjukta Sinha followed by a duet concert by Chennai based sisters Ranjani and Gayatri who are well-known both as vocalists and violinists while the fifth and final evening would witness host Srjan’s presentation Mahanayaka Bijayananda, an Odishi dance production based on the life and times of legendary Odisha politician Biju Patnaik.
The coveted Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra annual awards of the year would be presented to two eminent personalities of the Odisha during the festival, Shyamamani Debi for Odishi music and Dhruba Charan Biswal for Odishi dance.
The newly launched Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Yuva Prativa Samman would also be presented to four young artistes during the festival. They are Mumbai based Odishi vocalist Jatin Kumar Sahu, Bharatanatyam dancer Jyotsna Jagannathan from Bengaluru, Odishi dancers lingaraj Pradhan from Bhubaneswar and Namrata Mehta from Mumbai.
“It was the desire of my Guru and father to present the best of Indian classical dance and music to the people of Odisha while honouring the great exponents of Odisha’s music, dance, theatre and cinema through this festival and I am faithfully following his desire,” stated festival director and Odishi Guru Ratikant Mohapatra, who is recipient of the prestigious Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award this year.