Junagarh: The 11th edition of Girnar Festival of Music and Dance, organised by a Mumbai based organisation Patel Cultural Foundation, was held at Shree Bhootnath Temple in Junagarh, near Rajkot in Gujarat from January 10 to 14.
The festival which has been drawing art aficionados from far and wide is the brain child of Shri MK Patel. He has been promoting and propagating classical dance and music since last few decades.
This annual festival presents the stalwarts as well as the promising artists in the field of music and dance. This year, the audience witnessed some spectacular performances of Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Sattriya, Kathak, Dhrupad singing, Jaltarang music, Pakhawaj playing etc.This reviewer had the opportunity to witness a few performances on the second and last day.
It was amazing to watch Gargi Shejwal playing the Pakhawaj in a solo recital, so fluently and effortlessly.She played ‘taal chautaal’, 12 matra (beats).She commenced her recital with Ganesh Stuti, and then went on to present Mridungacharya Nanasaheb Panase’s traditional theka, prastar, chakradar, farmaishi chakradar, rela, padar. She finished her performance with do hati(दो-हाती) paran that is a speciallity of Panase Gharana.
The evening also featured the well known Bharatanatyam exponent Santnu Chakraborty. He along with his senior disciple Parineet Malik began with Bho Shambho written by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, in the praise of Lord Shiva who came of his own as Swayambhonath.It was an amazing composition with intricate mudras, footwork and powerful abhinaya by Santnu. His disciple Parineet lent a good support. They followed it up by Shiva Panchakshara stotra written by Adi Shankaracharya, Om Na Ma Shi Va Ya chanting and dancing each para with the first Akshara as Nagendra Haraya. Santnu and Parineet concluded their repertoire with a Tillana in the praise of Lord Shiva Nataraja of Tillai Chidambaram Temple, based on Raga Hindolam, Tala-Adi.
The concluding day witnessed Odissi dance by the well known Odissi exponent Guru Madhumita Raut. Her two senior students Apoorva Das and Garima Behura presented unique compositions of Padmashri Guru Mayadhar Raut. The highlight of their presentation was Bho Shambho choreographed by Guru Madhumita.
They also performed Bairag Pallavi based on Raga Bairag in great elaboration, with lyrical and graceful movements. They concluded their repertoire with Moksha dedicated to Ma Durga.
The evening also showcased an amazing duet presentation of Kathak by Pallavi Raisurana and Bharatanatyam by Sujatha Ramanathan. As it was coincided with Makar Sankranti, the duo presented a beautiful composition dedicated to ‘Surya’, the Sun god. It was very well composed and danced.The music for ‘Surya’ was composed by Smt. Sudha Raghuraman.
The venue for the festival, Sree Bhootnath Temple, was divine. The performances were right in the temple precincts so the dancing felt a part of temple rituals, the dancers offering nritya seva. The Girnar Mahotsava that spanned over five days was a divine experience for the dance and music lovers in Junagarh.
Guru Madhumita was effusive in her praise for the way the festival is being organised.“Girnar Festival of Music and Dance is a perfect platform that showcases talents from all over India. We witnessed about thirty outstanding artists. It was a new experience to witness so many musicians and dancers in one festival. My dance group felt so blessed by dancing in the Shiv Mandir. We specially felt blessed as we performed on Makar Sankranti.”
