Second Day of Alva’s Virasat 2010 attracts large crowds

Mangalore Today News Network

Moodbidri, Jan 8: The second day of Alva’s Virasath, a 4-day national-level cultural festival, transformed Moodubidri into a cultural wonderland. 

The centre of attraction of the day was a two-and-a-half-hour jugalbandi presented by Praveen Godkhindi on flue and Padmavibhushan Kadri Gopalnath on saxophone. Around 15,000 people had flocked from various parts of Karnataka to witness this splendid event. 

The jugalbandhi commenced at 6 p.m. and continued till 8:30 p.m. The two maestros were accompanied by Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, Arun Kumar, Rajendra Nakod, U Umesh, and B Rajendra on Mrudangam, drums, tabla, keyboard, and morching, respectively. 

The jugalbandhi was followed by an Oyssey dance ballet by Ms Sharmila and team from Kolkata, which lasted for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The dance performance illustrated scenes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Bhagavatha. 

The road to Shoba Vana, the venue of Alva’s Virasath 2010 was ablaze with colored lights and other adornments. The sight of local women and children rushing to view the cultural performances was worth seeing. The atmosphere was akin to that of a colorful carnival. 

A special jugalbandhi by Pandit Purbayan Chatterjee on sitar and Praveen Godkhindi on flute will be presented on Friday. Sathyajit Talwalkar, Arun Kumar, Keith Peters, and Zoheb Hussain will accompany them on tabla, drums, bass guitar, and keyboard, respectively. Nritygram of Bangalore will then present a dance performance called “Prathima.”