By Acharya S.P.Dwivedi
BURNABY – India carries precious treasurer of folk lore and literature. There are songs for every occasion and events. Actually, all literature, art and music can be traced back to folk realm. The main features of folk songs and dances are their simplicity, vibrancy and ecstasy.
Hindi Literary Society of Canada, BC has been on the forefront since 1998 for promoting and protecting Hindi heritage. It organizes not only its own literary events but arranges programs also in collaboration with other institutions . Hindi folk festival is its major event. Since Deepa Sharma has become the President of this Society, she has put enormous time and energy to revive this folk festival. To bolster her efforts a program committee was formed that contained Jaishri Reddy, Pushplata Sharma and Madhu Varshney. Moreover, the members of Executive Committee also extended their unreserved support.
Deepa welcomed the guests and invited scholar and spiritual master –
Dr.Satya Prakash Sharma and requested him to display dance drama-“Auo Hindi Padhey” which he wrote and set the music. Nidhi Saxena choreographed; Dr. Preeti Misra and Varad Ashram coordinated it. Artists—Aditya Saxena, Abhimanyu Kalia, Mansi Saxena, Nikhil Sharma, RidyajuTripathi, Sanjana Saxena, Satya kalia, Shivi Saxena, Sonali Saxena , Suraj Sharna, Subbrahmanyam Janaswamy, Vibhor Gautam and Vibhun Gautam performed well. The costume was designed by Ritu Saxena and power point presentation made it more effective. It was a mind-blowing- program.
Mr. Arvind Bubber, Chancellor of Kwantlen Polytechnic University was the chief guest and in his speech he encouraged people to preserve and promote folk song, dance and music. Mr. Shammi Arora, Consol, a special guest, appreciated the members of HLSC for organizing the Hindi Folk Festival on regular basis in Canada. “You people are trying to maintain this ancient cultural heritage here while it is slowly disappearing from India”, he commented. His speech was fallowed by young violin player Pranav and that was a sensational one.
Group song, presented by Kalpna Sharma, Rupinder Khera and Mini Sharma, got instrumental support from Gurdarshan Matharu (Tabla). Jagdish Prasad (Harmonium), Suman Sharma (Dholak) and Kapil Sharma (Drum), Pushplata Shrma (Tam brine) and that was a huge hit. Dr Sunil Bhatt profusely entertained the audience through his melodious songs.
Young dancer- Tanisha Misra captured the attention of all and a solo dance of Nisha Malhotra became the main attraction of the evening. Her graceful movements, fascinating expressions and intricate footwork mesmerized the guests. Madhu Varshney choreographed a traditional group folk dance in that Preeti Misra, Chamaylee Seegobin, Neeru Kanotra and she herself took part. It was a huge success because of its marvellous combination of colourful dresses, soothing music and captivating gestures.
A quite interesting puppet dance, choreographed by Sarika Sharma, was presented by Isha Sharma, Riya Bajpai, Jessica Sandhu and Ishika Sandhu.
The cultural show ended with finale— Fashion Show in that Neeru Kanotra, Sachi Sharma, Suman Sharma, Ruchika Bhatt, Reena Bajpai, Kalpna Sharma, Simmi Kakkar, Jayshree Reddy, Sarika Sharma and Kanupriya Dhir were dressed up in popular attire, jewellery and make up of the Indian province they represented. It was colourful and eye-opening show. Jaishri emceed the program magnificently. More than three hundred guests were served with delicious dinner and dance-floor was found quite busy with enthusiastic dancers up to the middle of night.
