Celebrating Art and My Cultural Roots

I had the most glorious weekend – it was a long weekend that started on Friday, in anticipation and ended on Sunday, in happiness.

But let me begin at the beginning – because isn’t that a good place to start?

Last week, we were reading the newspaper as usual when a small news item caught our eye. “The Times of Indian International Folk Festival Bangalore 2014”

Intrigued, we read on for more info and were directed to their website. We registered for the event.

And looked forward to Friday.

Vidur was very excited – he’s keenly interested in folk art and culture.

We had no idea what to expect aside from the info on the website but we definitely had great expectations and the three-day event far exceeded them.

Celebrating Art

On  Friday August 8, we arrived at the venue  – Jayamahal Palace lawns (yes, that’s a real palace converted into an hotel now) around 5 pm, after a relaxed lunch at home.

And what a sight met our eyes – in fact, it took over our senses from the word go. These “Dollu Kunitha” dancers were so energetic and cheerful that I couldn’t help shaking a leg with them!

We were eager to see what the three days had in store. We knew that a bevy of Top folk artistes were lined up – from West Bengal, Kerala, Kutch, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Assam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Norway to showcase their talents.

After the Dollu dancers, it was Rajasthan’s colorful artists dancing to the beat. See the guys on stilts at the back? They were walking all over the lawn!

The warm and exciting welcome was followed by the inauguration of the event.  The stage was set.

We were treated to a fantastic musical performance by renowned vocal artist Sangeeta Katti who enthralled us with her variety of songs and left us wanting more.ext, was the Ottan Thullal – a mesmerizing folk form from Kerala.

This was followed by the graceful Selamat Datang: Welcome from Indonesia’: Indonesian folk dance.

We returned home on Day 1, our hearts full and proud to have been part of such a wonderful experience.

On August 9 and 10, we were immersed in exquisite music and dance performances. I’ll tell you about those soon!

The Folk Festival also had a lovely display of folk arts and crafts from various parts of India with live performers, artisans demonstrating their skills with live pottery making and other open air performances.

India speaks to us through her varied art forms — be it classical or folk. Folk traditions and performances are the life-spirit of India and its ethos, and in their sometimes unsophisticated richness, convey to us the loftiest of philosophies. In the rush of our urban lives, we seem to be losing contact with these roots

The Folk Festival gave us the opportunity to connect with our cultural roots. What a wonderful way of celebrating art!

I learned so much. It is one thing to read about these things and see  photos. It is something else to see these great artists performing at arm’s length from us.

Over the next few days, I’ll share photos from the event with a brief background of the folk art, music or dance form.

Here is my favorite photo from Day 1: He is dressed in traditional Yakshagana costume.

Yes, we were allowed to touch!

A close up for you…they were so serene and were mingling with the crowds.

Do stay tuned for more about this experience. Incredible India, indeed!

Linking up with Unknown Mami for Sundays In My City.

Let’s travel the world together!