The five days festival of classical music and dance, 8th Girnar festival, begins tomorrow 5^th January 2022.

The event is organized by Patel Cultural Foundation and Municipal Corporation of Junagadh and managed by Vivid Arts Entertainment, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, commences on 5th January to 9th January 2022 at the Shamaldas Gandhi Town Hall in Junagadh, a two hour drive from Rajkot Airport. The festival will be inaugurated by the commissioner of Junagadh Municipal Corporation - Rajeshbhai M Tanna, Mayor Dhirbhai Gohel and Shailesh Dave,general secretary of BJP. Last year due to the pandemic, this festival could not be organized, hence performers from varied parts of the country are anxiously looking forward to this festival.

The first day of the festival features the Tridhara group of Odissi dancers, led by accomplished mentor Guru Gajendra Panda from Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, Bharata Natyam by dynamic dancer from Bangalore Nidhaga Kurunad, Kathak group performance led by Harsha Thakkar from Rajkot, While Tarjani Hirani from Rajkot will render a vocal recital, Hrishikesh Mazumdar from Mumbai will enthrall the audience with his flute recital;

The second day of the festival will commence with the Sitar duet by Jigar and Nishad Mistry from Anand and Surat, Prabhutosh Panda and Dipika Priyadarshini (Bhubaneshwar) will perform a Odissi duet, Mumbai's Kuchipudi and Bharata natyam exponent Subitha Murali will perform a duet with Ajay Shendge in the Kathak style from Aurangabad. Mumbai's Kathak exponent Chetan Sariya will perform along with his disciples, Odissi exponent Aarya Nande will led dancers from Nritya Shreedhara (Sarangarh).

One of the highlights of the festival will be the Tabla katcheri, conducted by Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan, along with Santosh Mishra from Mumbai, Mehraj Hussain from Jaipur and Adil Khan from Vadodara, Kalavikas Kendra from Cuttack will perform Odissi group. The only Mohiniattam dancer in the festival will be Unnati Ajmera from Rajkot. Accomplished Kuchipudi exponent from Hyderabad Dr Surabhi Lakshmi Sarada will enchant the audience with her performance. Another highlight of the festival will be the vocal and instrumental music recital by Special Children School of Mangalmurti Viklang Trust of Junagadh.

The Saturday concerts will have an interesting and melodious "jugalbandi" of Guitar and Dilruba by Bilal and Mohammaed Hussain from Jaipur. Priyanka Pati and Hirana Trivedhi will perform a Odissi duet from Ahmedabad, while Priyanka Shinde from Mumbai will perform kathak and Purvi Sheth from Rajkot will perform Bharata natyam along with her group.

The finale performances on Sunday 9th January will feature Santoor recital by Altaf Hussain Khan from Vadodara, Varsha Abhichandani and disciples of Sadhana Nrityalaya from Pune will perform Bharata natyam. Disciples of one of the leading Odissi exponents of Mumbai - Debi Basu will perform a group number. Another talented Bharata Natyam exponent from Kolkata, Manojit Saha will impress the audience. Leading vocalist from Junagadh Vipul Trivedi and kathak exponent from New Delhi Shrestha Tripathi will also perform on the finale day.

MK Patel, the soul of this festival says "It is not easy to organize a festival of such a magnitude, I wish more people and personalities come forward and help us financially, which is the need of the hour,many promise but let us down at the last minute, hoping for the best with the grace of the Almighty". Anand Singh and Narhari will be the compere for the festival.

By Guru Vijay Shanker