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City gearing up for mega cultural fete

Correspondent

Ravi Shankar to lead congregation

BHUBANESWAR: As dusk descends on the city on Saturday, the sprawling Janata Maidan would reverberate with a riot of rhythms of dance and music invoking peace and harmony. And well-known spiritual guru Ravi Shankar, the architect of the Art of Living Movement, would lead the unique congregation.

As part of the countrywide silver jubilee celebration of the Art of Living foundation, Ravi Shankar will conduct a three-day `pranayam' and meditation camp at the venue. The grand symphony of dance and music by around 1,000 artistes is a prelude to the programme. Similar shows have already been staged in Bangalore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

"The 45-minute show will celebrate the five elements of life -- earth, water, fire, air and sky -- as described in the Vedas," reveals vocalist and Odissi Research Centre chief executive Ramahari Das who has composed the music based on Sanskrit slokas. A host of veteran musicians, singers, choreographers and dancers have been roped in to present such a mega event, he says.

The team includes tabla exponent Umesh Chandra Kar, mardal guru Dhaneswar Swain, music composer Rama Rao Patra, sitarist Bauri Bandhu Sethi, violinist Ramesh Chandra Das, flute player Abhiram Nanda, Odissi guru Gangadhar Pradhan, choreographer Aruna Mohanty, singers Mitali Chinara, Sangeeta Gosain and Nazia Alam. Young and promising music composer-singer Sumant Mohanty will conduct the programme.

Five-stepped stage

A five-stepped stage has been erected that will showcase the artistes in five sections.

The earth segment will have an orchestra of several percussion instruments like tabla, mardal, mridangam, khol and naal. The dancers of the segment will have costumes in red colour.

"We have incorporated elements of Orissa's typical dance and music tradition in the symphony as per Ravi Shankar's desire," says music composer Das.

The show that will commence at 6.30 p.m. and conclude at 9 p.m.

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