Having begun in 2002, the new edition of the annual Lalit Arpan Festival marks the beginning of the cultural calendar for the year. Following this, presentations of the performing arts will start full throttle and the city will buzz with cultural ebullience. Every year, Kathak danseuse Shovana Narayan puts together this fete to welcome the upcomming festive cheer and to promote the country’s classical heritage with performances of maestros and new talent breeding on our grounds.
This two-day festival will see the likes of Shounak Abhisheki, a Hindustani vocalist from Pune, Grammy Award winner Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on Mohan Veena, Vidushi Manju Mehta, a well-known sitarist from Ahmedabad, Vidushi Jayantimala, a Kathak performer and daughter of eminent Indian dancer, Sitara Devi. “Every day, every year, we are constantly learning. Even though all of us are well aware, yet the unpredicatability of human nature and reactions keep astounding us. We have also become aware of several art forms and genres that have become endangered and others that are fast vanishing. The festival is an attempt to raise awareness towards that aspect,” says Shovana, who has consciously chosen not to participate in her own festival. It was sometime in 2002 that the late tabla maestro Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan and she sat reminiscing about their young days, acknowledging the motivation provided by the senior artistes of that era, who had promoted both of them by providing platforms to perform. ‘‘In that spirit of parampara (tradition) of passing on the baton of promoting preservation of Indian classical heritage through performances, along with acknowledging the future torchbearers of the tradition, we two decided to initiate the festival, but not participate in it,’’ she says with a sense of fulfilment that she’s been reeling under since the past few months. A sense of gratitude has taken over her under its siege and she’s in a mood to start giving it all back through the festival.
Date September 17 and 18
Time 7 pm
Venue Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road