Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, April 4: The three-day folk dance and music festival, which kicked off Thursday and was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, concluded Sunday at the Utkal Mandap. Around 1500 artists from all the districts of the state, except three, participated in the festival that showcased the rich cultural heritage of the state.
The three-day-long cultural extravaganza was witness to performances such as the Rama leela, tribal dance, ghumura, chhau, sambalpuri dance, dhangda dhangdi dance, saura nrutya, changu dance, singha badya, karma dance, ghoda nacha, danda nacha, dhemsa nrutya, dalkhai, chadei chadeyami and many other dance forms. Artists from Koraput, Sonepur, Malkangiri, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Nuapada, Kendrapara, Angul, Rayagada, Jajpur, Jagatsingpur, Keonjhar, Ganjam, Puri, Mayurbhanj and other districts participated in the event.
Organised by the culture department, the 5th state level folk dance and folk music event attracted a huge audience that got an opportunity to see the rich folk art of the different parts of the state here in the capital city.
Basudev Malbishoyi, state project coordinator, cultural department said, “The main objectives behind organising such a mega event with so many artists at a time were to provide livelihood support to the artists, to promote the traditional art form among people, as also to encourage the folk culture and create awareness among people about different government welfare schemes through the folk medium.”
Another interesting feature of this fest was the exhibition of folk music instruments of Orissa in the form of a music tree by Rabi Ratan Sahu created around 42 live musical instruments.
“The idea behind making a music tree is to create awareness among people about the ancient instruments of Orissa,” Sahu said. Scores of people, who gathered to witness the third day’s programme were enthralled by the several dance performances.
