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Awadh Festival to be dedicated to Indian Army
Sonu Nigam, Malini Awasthi to get Naushad Samman
Singers Sonu Nigam and Malini Awasthi will be awarded the Naushad Samman during the Avadh Festival, to be held in Lucknow on January 30. The event is organised by the Humar Creations Craft Association and will be held at the Surya Officers Auditorium.
This year’s festival will be dedicated to the Indian Army. “Most of the army personnel come to Lucknow for short duration and not each of them is aware of our cultural heritage. We want to show to them the rich culture of music, dance, storytelling and poetry,” said festival’s convenor Zafar Nabi.
A series of cultural events have been lined up for the occasion.
Himanshu Bajpai will perform dastaangoi ‘Kuch Lucknow ki baat ho jaye’, in which he will narrate the culture of Awadh. Kathak artists from Santgeet Natak Academy will perform a ‘Lucknow Aur Kathak Gharana’ show. Musician Neeta Sinha will play guitar music as a part of ‘Tilism-ESada-O-Saaz’. Another highlight of the event will be sher-o-shayari by Hashim Firozabadi, Rahi Bastavi,
Tahir Faraz and Hasan Kazmi. Songs of legendary music director Naushad Ali will also be played.
“Malini Awasthi has accepted our request to sing some her favourite numbers on the occasion. We will request Sonu Nigam to sing something on Naushadji and Mohd Rafi,” added Nabi.
Earlier in the day, a talk show will be held at Levana Suits, in which Salim Arif will be in conversation with Malini Awasthi while Himanshu Bajpai will have a chat with Sonu Nigam.
This is the fourth edition of Naushad Samman, which has been earlier awarded to sarod maestro Padma Vibhushan Amjad Ali Khan, actor Hema Malini, Padma Vubhushan Shiv Kumar Sharma and Rekha Bhardwaj.