Bhubaneswar : The 24th OMC Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival 2018, organised by Srjan commenced on September 5 at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, with an evening of Odissi Dance and Carnatic Music, in the presence of His Excellency the Governor of Odisha as Chief Guest.
The festival, which started off in 1995 as single-day event, is now a five-day long classical dance and music extravaganza featuring 8 performances, including a dance recital by Srjan’s repertoire group. The evening commenced with the welcome address by Ratikant Mohapatra, Director, Srjan followed by the lighting of the lamp by Shri Ganeshi Lal and other distinguished dignitaries, Shri Shashi Bhushan Behera, Hon’ble Minister, Finance and Excise, Govt. of Odisha, Shri Ashok Kumar Tripathy, Former member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha, Shri Bijay Kumar Nayak, Director, Odisha Language Literature and Culture, and Shri Ratikant Mohapatra, Director, Srjan.
The first performance of the evening was a solo Odissi recital by Smt. Rajashri Praharaj. Rajashri commenced her recital with a Pushpanjali followed by a pure dance piece, Hamsadhwani Pallavi set to Raga Hamsadhwani and Ekatali, choreographed by the legendary Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra to the music composition of Pt. Bhubanewar Mishra. Her dance captivated the audience with immense technical virtuosity and execution of the nuances of this piece. Accompanied by the effortless brilliance of Sri Ratikant Mohapatra on the Mardala, Suromani Ramesh Chandra Das and Sri Agnimitra Behera on the Violins, Sri Srinibas Satapathy on the Flute and Sri Rupak Kumar Parida on Vocals, she performed the Abhinaya, Sita Haran to conclude her recital. In this episode from the Ramayana, Rajashri impersonated the characters of Ram, Lakshman, Sita, Ravana and Jatayu with a sensitive and deep understanding. Her performance was a befitting opening to the festival.
The second performance of the evening was a Carnatic music Jugalbandi by the husband-wife duo of Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh on the Veena and Vidwan R. Kumaresh on the Violin.Two of the foremost instrumentalists in their respective fields, they presented a soulful duet accompanied by Sri Jayachandra Rao and Sri Krishnaswami Sankararaman on the Mridangam and Ghatam respectively. Their captivating rendition of Raga Sangeeta, exploring the intricacies of both instruments, showed their years of experience and expertise in their respective fields and portrayed a celebration of music as a way of life. With a glorious beginning to the festival, the audiences can definitely hope for a visual and musical treat with performances of Vyjayanthi &Prateeksha Kashi (Kuchipudi), AGAM (Carnatic Progressive Rock), Partha Sarathi Panigrahi (Geeta Govinda), Rajendra Gangani (Kathak), Ambi Subramaniam (Violin) and the host, Srjan Dance Ensemble(Odissi), all lined up in the next four days.
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