The arts and culture festival Virasat organised by REACH (Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage) will begin this year on October 18 with noted musicians, artistes and craftsmen from across the nation slated to perform during the festival which will be inaugurated on Friday by Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily along with the ONGC group of companies CMD Sudhir Vasudeva.
Addressing the media, lokesh Ohri of REACH said that this year the design of the stage for the festival at Ambedkar stadium has been inspired by the Sanchi Stupa world heritage site. The inaugural day of the festival will begin with Jagar rendition by noted Jagar singer Basanti Bisht followed by Cholia dance from Kumaon, a performance by Anaveshna contemporary Indian dance group and a recital by flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.
A crafts village will be opened at the venue with more than 350 craftsmen from all over India, many of them national awardees, displaying unique and valuable handicrafts. The inauguration of a fortnight long photo exhibition on ‘Rediscovering Dehradun’, Kathak by Aarushi Nishank and Hindustani classical by Mohammed Aman Khan will be the highlights of the second day. Thumri by Kumud Dewan with Vishal Krishna’s Kathak, jugalbandhi by Pandit Ronu Majumdar on flute and Mysore Manjunath on the violin, Sufi music by the Wadali Bandhu, performance by the Hindustani classical orchestra Maihar Band, Sufi music by Kavita Seth, a tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on the slide guitar, world of Kabir and Sufi saints by Mir Mukhtiyar Ali andperformances by various other prominent and upcoming artistes will be held during the fortnight long festival.
In addition to these performances, a display of tribal handicrafts and Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India limited (TRIFED) Aadi Chitra exhibition of tribal paintings, a fortnight long national painters-sculptors’ camp and exhibition etc... will be organised during the 15-day festival.