KOCHI: Had the pandemic not broken out, the capital city would have been in a festive spirit this time as the first 10 days of October are reserved for the Soorya Dance and Music Festival. While fans are sure to miss the live experience at the Ganesham venue, Soorya Krishnamoorthy, founder-director, Soorya Stage and Film Society, is all set to launch the 11-day-long online edition of the Soorya Festival from Thursday, marking the beginning of its 43rd edition.
Like the previous years, the festival will begin with the performance of singer K J Yesudas. The 11-day-long festival is set to feature performances of eminent artists like Janaki Rangarajan, Meenakshi Srinivasan, Asha Sarath, Manju Warrier, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Neena Prasad, Priyadarsini Govind, Rama Vaidyanathan and Divya Unni. All performances are recorded and will be streamed live through Soorya’s YouTube channel from October 1st to 11th at 6.45pm.
Soorya Festival will also pay a tribute to Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi and Pandit Jasraj through on October 11th through a performance by musician Ramesh Narayan. “Both of them were closely associated with the festival. The performance will begin with an introduction of the artists on their event,” says Soorya Krishnamoorthy. He says that the online edition of the festival will be a huge relief to artists and enthusiasts.
“The artists were dejected as they were missing out on-stage performances. Fans are relieved that they can watch the performances online,” says Soorya. He says that the performances are limited to 30 minutes as the viewers won’t be comfortable spending a lot of time online. “The 111-day-long festival brought together people from different parts of India and abroad. Many planned their holidays according to the festival schedule. The online edition won’t match the spirit of live performances and the gathering of people will be missed. However, conducting an online version is the only possible way,” he says.
However, art enthusiasts have another reason to rejoice as Soorya Krishnamoorthy is planning to conduct a 56-day-long national youth festival starting from December 21. “The plans are on. It will be a festival for talents aged below 40. Their films, dramas, performances, and talk shows will be hosted at the festival,” he says. Soorya hopes to resume the 111-day-long Soorya Festival next year. “The youth festl will be conducted according to the Covid situation,” he adds.