Virasat is an annual fest cultural of SPIC-MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth), its extravaganza reaching out to over hundreds of cities across the country, was held on 19th and 30th January ’11 in Maulana Azad National Institue of Technology , MANIT and in some other locations. Virasat is a series of cultural events portraying our rich and diverse cultural heritage. Virasat includes classical music and dance, crafts, theatre, workshops and intensives, yoga and meditation, holistic food and walks to heritage sites. Virasat includes about 1000 events scheduled for schools and colleges in India (mainly) and abroad too.
SPIC MACAY’s Bhopal chapter is playing key role in Central India , to promote cultural events of society in its region.
Some of the Cultural Events that held were Jazz music performance, Kathak , Koodiyattam , Folk Dance, Kavi Samelan and Overnight event of Shastriya Sangeet . All the events were Co-ordinated by faculty member and students of MANIT. The chief Co-ordinators were Mrs Tripta Thakur (Faculty member, Student Advisor ) & student Co-ordinator Dheeraj Nagwe (Student, B.tech 2nd year) and Chetan Anand ( student , 2nd year Architecture).
. Every Evening came with special Artist’s performances, which enthralled the audience.
§ Every day from 19th – 23th jan, different programs were organised in campus , which are listed as follows:-
Yoga / Meditation – Every morning started with practice of yoga exercises and meditation under guidance of yoga guru.Yoga exercise program was held in girls hostel in which all girls participated and did many breathing exercise and Surya Namaskar, along with other Yoga Aasan practice.
Incentive - A program known as “Intensives” in SPIC-MACAY which is sort of workshop was organized at morning 7 am to 8 am, in which 50 girls of MANIT, learned the skills of Kathak by Pandit Ram Lal Ji.
Movies/Documentries – From 19th to 21st Jan ’11, three movies was screened in SAC.
Ø First movie which was screened on 19th was, Kagemusha / Throw of blood by Akira kurosava .
Ø On Jan 20th, The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin was screened. Audience enjoyed it too much, that on every punch of movie , SAC was filled with laughter of them.
Ø Similarly on day third, Jalsa Ghar / Charu lata by Satya Jit Ray was screened. Charulata is an exquisitely shot, sublimely haunting, and emotionally complex film on the nature of human relationships. As other movies, audience adored it too.
Olave dale’s Jazz music performance – On 24th Jan’11, Norwegian Jazz band of Olav Dale performed. The Director of MANIT bhopal, Dr. R.P.Singh was the chief guest of the evening. the evening was hosted by Dheeraj Nagwe. The band, Dabrhahi, of Olav Dale comprises Sten Inge Brekhus on drums-percussion, Erik H Halvorsen on keyboards and Torb Jorn Hillersoy on bass.
The full attendance of audience before the show was the proof of the craze among students. Olav dale’s Quartet mesmerized the audience with their stunning performance. That was really very successful day.
After giving performance in MANIT, next day i.e. on 25 Jan , they gave their performances in IES Institute of Technology and Anand Vihar School Bhopal. The scene there was same, response of audience was outstanding .
Gotipua – On 25th jan, Gotipua, the majestic folk dance of Orissa , was presented by the dance troop. The Chief guest of this evening was Chariman of MANIT, Mr. A .N. Singh. The dancers performed acrobatic figures which are inspired by the life of Radha & Krishna.
This was the day when audience was stunned, watching performance of these little gotipua folk odessy boy dancers with mouth agape. You could feel how audience like that in their cheering.
Kavi sammelan –Exclusive kavi sammelan was organized on 26th Jan, i.e. on Republic Day of India , and It’s true that no other day could be better for this event than 26th was. The chief guest of this evening was IAS, Mr. Shiv Shekhar Shukla. The poet who came for recitals were shri. Ashok Jamnani , shri. Girish Pankaj , shri. Rajiv Dubey and shri. Amit Ganjoo. There was one Guest appearance of Mr. Vaibhav Gupta, who comes in category of hasya kavi, recited his lines which made audience to give standing ovation.
It was different from others, that use to concentrate on “hasya” essence of kavi sammelan . In this sammelan, poet from different region came to make evening of Republic Day memorable to us and their words echoed in the mind of the listener. The evening began with some humor as the poets joked about the politics of the nation.
Stage Play – A stage play “Charandas Chor” was portrayed by NAYA THEATER GROUP on 27th Jan’11. The chief guest of the evening was colonol. Joshi. The play really added flavor and colour to the Virasat event. It is a play, without which any cultural event can’t be said successful.The play was highly appreciated by the audience
Naya theater group was founded in 1959 in Bhopal by Habib Tanvir and charandas chor was written by him. This is a contemporary play - a metaphor for society. Every character is representative of a certain kind of system that prevails in the society - be it the havildar (police), guru or the rani (queen). And Charandas Chor himself represents a thought that can rip off the stereotyped social structure.. The play was highly appreciated by the audience. The audience was in gales of laughter with Charandas Chor each dialogue.
Kathak and Koodiyattam – It was really big occasion i.e. on 28th Jan’11, when people got the chance to watch two different classical dances, one from Northen India, Kathak, and one from Southern India, Koddiyatam, on same stage and on same evening.
First , performance of Kathak was given by Padama Bhushan Uma Sharma, an internationally renowned Indian exponent.
A large gathering of audience, comprising of students and noted dignitaries from Bhopal were present in the audience. The audience was left spell bound by the performance and appreciated the different “bhavs”. She performed her favorite pieces such as the Aaranya Kand of Ramayan, Nayika Bhedh and a few couplets of Ghalib. Lately one second day she gave another performance in K V 1 Bhopal.
Second, Koodiyattam performance was given by Kapila Venu.
Koodiyattam is recognized by the UNESCO as one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. Kapila Venu, ,performed the Nangyarkoottu on the theme of Sita Parityagam. By watching her movements and exquisite expressions one can easily guess that she is portraying Mata Sita.
The chief guest of this evening was Professor G.Dixit. The evening was hosted by Chetan Anand ( student , 2nd year Architecture).
OverNight event- The final day of the event was special as the Overnight Concert was being organized.the chief guest of this very evening was Shri. Babulal Gaur (current cabinet minister of Madhya Pradesh and a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh). The night was hosted by Chetan Anand,Dheeraj Nagwe,Priyanka and shibi .
Evening began with the performances by Bharti bandhu .Their Bharti Bandhu shaily of singing Sufi, folk and classical sangeet has no match, it connects one to god within instants. One may expect a less attendance when such programs are organized in an educational institute but we had never expected that there were crowd of students who really appreciated Indian classical music.
Finally the moment came when the 104 year old legend Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan was brought on his wheelchair. His performance was most eagerly expected, since no one had ever imagined in their dreams, to watch man older than their grandparents would perform in front of them He sat down on the stage and asked a permission from audience to start , it’s what shows how much cultured he is. He really inspired us a lot , his love and integrity for classical music is inexpressible in words.
He began with a Khyal, the audience was left mystified by his recital. In between, cups of tea were served to him by his student, who was constantly looked after on the stage by his students.
Then there were Gundecha bandhu ,who are leading Dagarvani dhrupad singers. Their alaps were highly appreciated among audience who were well known to dhrupad since Bhopal is a place where dhrupad concert are organized on every special events. Audience enjoyed their Bhajans compositions. . Anyone can never guess how much practice, they have done to get mastery over Dhrupad Layakari. Their synchronization delighted the audience.
Then there was living legend ,Ustad Bahauddin Dagar. Who played Alap in Raga Bageshvari on Rudra Veena, more correctly to say on “ Dagar Veena”. Many people among audience who had never seen such veena before, was found highly interested to watch him playing that. His sitar playing on Raga Bageshvari and Bhairavi were like treat for the ears of listeners.
His performance as expected was among the most discussed performance among audience. People appreciated this veena mastero performance a lot. One of us compared his performance as Greek god of wind was playing his Harp.
And the last ,Sarwar Hussain’s came to perform on stage. His compositions on Sarangi just spellbound everyone on early hours of next day. The compositions mesmerized the listeners and the vibrations of strings of the Sarangi sync with the air of an overnight concert and soothed and refreshed the spirit of each listener.
We had just heard that Sarangi resembles most to the sound of the human voice among all Indian instruments, but on that event we believed that yes, it sounds similar to us. Sarwar hussain, as we all know is too young, he is really inspiring our youth and their interest towards classical music.
We had just heard that Sarangi resembles most to the sound of the human voice among all Indian instruments, but on that event we believed that yes, it sounds similar to us. Sarwar hussain, as we all know is too young, he is really inspiring our youth and their interest towards classical music.
Heritage Walk – The SPIC-MACAY events not only promote classical music but culture also, and when it comes to culture, Heritage walks, are best way to learn and recognize our culture, tradition, philosophy, myths and associated rituals with them.
Heritage walk of our Bhopal, The Capital city of Madhya Pradesh, was conducted by Mrs. Savita Raje (Registrar MANIT). Guests and Students were seemed highly excited from the beginning of the day , there is nothing best could be done than tour of Bhopal , which refreshed everyone .
Tour started from Kamala park which is among the place of attraction to visit in Bhopal, then Gohar Mahal that was Built in 1820, on the banks of the Upper Lake. Then Sadar Manzil, which was used as a Hall of Public Audience, after that tour proceeded to Moti Masjid , which is the impressive structure, beautifully designed and resembles the Jama Masjid of Delhi in its architecture and patterns. Tour ended after visiting sheesh mahal, the Taj Mahal of Bhopal was built as the Begum's residence, not as a mausoleum for her spouse and Zari karkhana, where embroidery of metal wire is done on cloths.
