Music and art lovers will get a feast of shehnai recital, classical songs, rythemic fusion, musical drama, dance and Kathak ballet from July 28 to 30 during 31st Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Smruti Sangeet Samaroh organised by South Central Zone Cultural Centre (SCZCC) here in the evening.
The musical concert has been organised at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Hall in Civil Lines, daily at 6.30 pm to mark the death anniversary of Dr Deshpande on July 30 and pay tributes to this great artiste. The programme is dedicated to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, martyr Chandrashekhar Azad and martyr Udham Singh.
Dr Girish Gandhi, Trustee of Vanrai Foundation, will inaugurate the event on July 28 at 6 pm while the guests will felicitate Manoharrao Mhaisalkar, President of Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh.
This was stated by Dr Dipak Khirwadkar, Director of SCZCC, while addressing a pres conference here on Monday.
He said that the cultural programme will then begin at 6.30 pm with shahnai recital by Padma Shri Pandit Dr S Ballesh Bhajantri and group from Chennai. Dr Bhajantri is the second artiste after Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan to get Padma Shri in shehnai recital. This will be followed by performance on classical vocal by Dr Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Mumbai. She had completed ‘Sangeet Vishaarad’ from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya at the age of 16 and won President Gold Medal in All India Radio Musical Contest held in 1977, Khirwadkar added.
On July 29, the cultural programme will start with S D Dashpute, Chief Engineer, PWD, Nagpur, as chief guest, who will felicitate senior singer Sadanand Pendse. The first performance on Ram Lalla Kathak Ballet would be presented by Nadroop in which Shama Bhate from Pune will participate. She has won State Awards, Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj Award and other awards. Then, Prasad Khaparde from Yavatmal will perform classical vocal. He is ‘A’ grade artiste on AIR and received applauses on international stage. Padma Shri Pandit Dr Yella Venkateshwara Rao and group from Hyderabad rythemic fusion ‘Taalvadya Kachieri’ Dr Rao has created world record by playing ‘mrudamgan’ for 36 hours continuously and carved his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Dr Khirwadkar said that Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, will be chief guest at the concluding programme on July 30 at 6 pm. The guests will felicitate another senior artioste Dr Vijay Kakde on the occasion. Then, Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh, Mumbai, would present musical drama ‘Dhaadila Ram Tine Ka Vani’. It will be presented under the leadership of cine artiste Pramod Pawar. Arvind Pilgaonkar is the Director, he said adding that this drama had been staged over 300 times.
The donation coupens are made available at SCZCC, Civil Lines, from 11 am to 5 pm and at the venue before shows. The cost of each donation coupen is Rs 300/- per head for full programme, he pointed out.
Dipak Kulkarni, Deputy Director, Shrikant Desai, Gopal Betawar, Shahank Dande, Ganesh Thorat and others were present at the press conference.
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