KASARAGOD: Bekal Gokulam Goushala’s Diwali Sangeethotsavam, the annual music festival in Kasaragod, will commence from Tuesday. The 14 days of the festival will see around 1,000 classical singers and musicians performing at the goushala. Over these 14 days, concerts will run for more than 14 hours a day across two stages simultaneously, with more than 400 hours of music.
The music festival will bring together Carnatic and Hindustani styles, namasankirtana, harikatha, bhajans, instrumental music, ashtapadi, kathakali music, sopana music, shehnai, and drums.
This year’s festival features a long list of musicians, including violin virtuoso Padma Vibhushan L Subrahmanyam, Padma Bhushan T N Seshagopal, Padma Bhushan T V Gopalakrishnan of Chennai, Padma Shri Aruna Sairam, Padma Shri Bhallesh, Padma Shri Shivamani, Shivashree Skandaprasad, Maithili Thakur, and playback singers Malavika Sundar and Siddharth Belmannu, among others.
The festival’s Diwali edition will be inaugurated with a performance by Nagaratna Hebbar and her team of more than 10 bhajans composed by Vishnuprasad Hebbar, founder of Gokulam Goushala, and set to music by Vellikoth Vishnu Bhat. Cultural Affairs Minister P C Vishnunadh will participate on the inaugural day on Tuesday, said Vishnuprasad.