‘Sanskriti Utsav’ to be held from March 17-19

The state capital would witness the colours of folk art and culture at Sangeet Natak Akademi lawns from March 17-19. The state’s culture department, for the first time, has decided to dedicate a cultural festival--Sanskriti Utsav-- to the city that would bring folk and fine art forms to the stage.

The art forms would not be limited to just Uttar Pradesh this time. Participants from seven states including Haryana, Himanchal Pradesh, Odisha,, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Mumbai, Delhi and Rajasthan are likely to participate in the ‘Sanskriti Utsav’ that would have numerous performances all through the day.

Hari Om, secretary, cultural affairs department, said, “This is for the first time that we decided to invite artists from so many states at the same time. The threeday fest would be splashed with hues of folk arts from different parts of the country.”

Another unique feature of the event would be a food festival being hosted at the venue that would serve authentic cuisines from various corners of Awadh. “We have decided to invite some traditional chefs from villages of UP to serve their authentic Awadhi cuisine at the festival,” said Hari Om.

The ‘Utsav’ would also host a fine arts and archive exhibition, which would be an added attraction for the visitors. The performances would be held in two shifts during the day: first round from 1 pm to 4pm and second round would be held between 7 to 9:30pm.

“Some of the performances that would be hosted during the cultural fest include Bardoi Sikla from Assam, Daalkhai from Odisha, Mehandiraat from Kashmir and Rautanacha from Chattisgarh. This would be in addition to the popular and diminishing folk arts of UP including Dhobiya, Paai danda, Aalha, Birha, etc,” said Luv Kush, an official at the culture department, who is also part of the organising team.