BHUBANESWAR: The 25th edition of OMC Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award Festival kicked off here on Thursday with a soulful rendition by ‘bhajan samrat’ Anup Jalota.
Dedicating his performance to Odissi doyen Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Jalota rendered his bhajans including the celebrated ones like ‘Aisi Lagi Lagan’ and ‘Jag Mein Sundar Hain Do Naam’ on a classical ‘raag’.
Organised by Srjan, the inaugural evening also saw two Odissi choreography ‘Moods of Rhythm’ and ‘Dashavatar’ by Meera Das and her troupe from Gunjan Dance Academy.
Jalota was accompanied by Sushree Koyel Tripathy on the vocals, Rashid Khan on violin, Pradeep Ghosh on the tabla and Himanshu Tiwari on guitar.
This year, Srjan has decided to hold the event for a week instead of five days to commemorate the 25th year of the festival.