Tourism News
Spectacular conclusion to Nishagandhi festival
The annual Nishagandhi dance and music festival came to a spectacular conclusion in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram January last week. The seven-day event witnessed artistes from various parts of the country amazing the audience with dazzling performances.
Mr. A.P. Anilkumar, Minister for Tourism, Kerala, in his address at the inaugural, said the future editions of the event would be conducted on a grand scale. ''We will ensure space for more genres and workshops and seminars will also be held as part of the event,'' the minister said.
The colourful inaugural event was noted for 'Naman', a specially choreographed fusion show presented by five eminent Indian classical dancers, including Jayaprabha Menon (Mohiniyattam), Malti Shyam (Kathak), Kavita Dwibedi (Odissi), Priya Venkataraman (Bharatanatyam) and Bimbavati Devi (Manipuri). From the second day onwards, the programmes began with the traditional percussion ensemble of Kerala. Cine actors Parvathy Jayaram and Manju Warrier drew much crowd to their Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi performances respectively.
The highlights of the function included a 'meditative ensemble' led by Pandit Ramesh Narayan, 'star musical function' led by K. Krishnakumar and a Kathakali mela. Other eminent artistes were Vikram Iyengar and Group (Kathak), Dr. 'Ghatam' Karthick S, Amrita Lahiri (Kuchipudi), Smitha Rajan (Mohiniyattam), Sharmila Bishwas and Group and Aloka Kanungo, (Odissi), Urmila Sathyanarayanan (Bharatanatyam), Amusana Devi (Manipuri) and Padmashree Penaz Masani (Ghazal).
