Tirupati: 4-day music & dance fete in city from today

Tirupati: A four-day music and dance programme, 'Alapana' will be organized jointly by the AP Janapada Vruthikalakarula Sangham (JVKS) and city-based 'Annamayya Kalakshetram' in the pilgrim city on Monday. The programme will begin with 'shobha yatra', a colourful procession of artists of both classical and rural art forms.

The cultural extravaganza aims to throw light on the various rural arts forms that are waning and also pay a devotional tribute to saint poet Annamayya who 500 years back pioneered the promotion of folk songs in a big way through his Kritis that also boosted Bhakti cult.

Speaking to the media here on Sunday JVKS state president A Jaganmohan Rao said `Alapana' is devotional tribute to Annamayya who through his huge volume of songs not only sowed the seeds of `Bhakti' movement and also stressed that all are equal before the God , thus he tried to remove the social barriers.

He urged the governments of the two Telugu states to take concrete steps immediately to save the rural art forms that are fast declining and many on the verge of disappearing for want of support.

The Centre should also provide funds for the revival of these rare art forms to save our age-old culture and tradition, he said. On the first day, Tholu Bommalata (puppet show) which is an ancient art form will be staged by Satyanarayana and his troupe from Narasapuram.

TTD Executive Officer AV Dharma Reddy will formally inaugurate the programme at Mahathi Auditorium where the four-day cultural show will be held while City MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy, film actor Suman and others will participate.

JVKS state secretary B Murali said daily from morning 9 am to evening 3 pm classical dance programmes like Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam by noted artists would be performed. From 4 pm devotional music programme by select artists from two Telugu states rendering the Krtis of Vaggeyakaras and later various rural arts forms will be sung. Stating that about 800 artists are involved in the spectacular cultural programme, he said folk arts like Kavadi Pambalatalu, Jada Kolatam, Kuluku Bhajana, Oggu Katha, Pillanagrovi are some of the rare folk arts will be staged.