The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Celebrating ‘kal ke kalakar’

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Sunday, Jul 01, 2007
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Celebrating ‘kal ke kalakar’

Shyamhari Chakra

Mumbai plays host to annual Indian classical festival

‘Singarmani’ titles are awarded to dancers
Odissi music makes a distinct debut

BHUBANESWAR: While Odissi dance set a record by claiming the highest number of ‘Singarmani’ titles in the 46-year-old history of the ‘kal ke kalakar’ (artistes of tomorrow) annual national festival for Indian classical dance and music in Mumbai this year, Odissi music, billed as the poor cousin of the globally acclaimed dance form, made its distinct debut in it too.

Renowned festival

India’s most talked of classical dance and music festival of its kind, the event is being hosted by Mumbai-based Sur Singar Samsad to spot out promising prodigies in the field of Indian classical dance and music - both vocal and instrumental - styles in the age group of 18 to 30 years. While ‘Singarmani’ titles are being awarded to dancers; vocalists and instrumentalists receive ‘Surmani’ and ‘Taal Mani’ titles for their outstanding performance in this annual event.

Stalwarts like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Birju Maharaj, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain and Sanjukta Panigrahi have been the past performers in this festival. Fifteen young Odissi dancers from India and abroad performed in this year’s festival and 12 of them walked away with the ‘Singarmani’ titles, informed Sur Singar Samsad joint secretary M.K.Patel. The winners include six from Orissa, two from Kolkata, three from Mumbai and one from UK.

State contingent

The Orissa contingent includes Debashis Pattnaik and Sonali Mohapatra (disciples of Durga Charan Ranbir), Sanjukta Dutta (disciple of Bichitrananda Swain) besides Lipsa Das, Aurosmita Acharya and Amrita Pattsani (disciples of Pitambar Biswal). Kolkata’s Aparupa Chatterjee (disciple of Ratikant Mohapatra of Bhubaneswar) and Shaswati Garai (disciple of Sharmila Biswas) were winners. Similarly, the Mumbai winners include Dhara Dutta, Minakshi Chandra and Priyanki Gupta. UK-based Mitali Dev, the first participant from abroad and a title winner, has been a disciple of Sujata Mohapatra of Bhubaneswar.

Celebration is in the air in Orissa over Odissi music’s final entry into the festival that usually featured Hindustani and Carnatic artistes so far. Bhubaneswar-based Sangeeta Panda, daughter and disciple of eminent Odissi music composer and scholar Gopal Chandra Panda, represented the style and emerged as the ‘Surmani’ title winner.

“It has been a distinct debut for Odissi,” remarked State-owned Odissi Research Centre chief executive Ramahari Das.

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