Hyderabad Art Festival concludes; Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia showcases his mastery on the flute

Hyderabad, July 23, 2017: Indian classical instrumentalist Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia proves his mastery on the flute to the packed audience, his fans and music lovers 1500 in number, here in city at Hyderabad Arts Festival at its concluding program at Shilpakala Vedika on Saturday.

The internationally acclaimed Indian classical flautist's romance with flute was at its best. From the word go, Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, who is known as the master of the Indian Bamboo Flute swayed his audience with impeccable, soothing and mesmerizing music. He did a magic with his flute. Audience applauded thunderously in response to the performance.

The accompanying artists include Vivek Sonar, renowned flautist Vivek and the senior most disciple of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. Internationally acclaimed "Pakhwaj' player Pandit Bhawani Shankar.

Before the beginning of his performance, The King of Flute was felicitated befittingly for his contribution to the Indian Classic Music. It is our good fortune that Panditji agreed to perfor at the closing function of the season 5 of Hyderabad Arts Festival. And it is also good fortune for us to felicitate him on this occasion informed Ramakrishna, Manoj and Cap. Anand, the trio who conceptualized the Hyderabad Arts Festival five years back.

As a rare gesture there was a rendition of "Endaro Mahanubhavulu". An apt rendition planned by the organisers for the living legend like Padma Vibhushan Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. 15 kids sang the song to pay a glorious tributes to the guruji for his contribution. The kids sat at the feet of the Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and sang the song. The song is written by Thyagaraja to describe the greatness of devotees, to salute the great men and women who live through all ages in the form of their work, their devotion, to their God, their art, their craft.

A portrait painted by Kanthrisa was presented to the Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. Guruji responded to the felicitation and appreciated the efforts of the organizers for organizing the festival uninterruptedly for the past five years and wished them great success in their endeavour.

Guruji presented mementos to the kids. It was a life time opportunity for 15 kids who were learning flute, to perform in front of the legend, pay tributes and receive the memento from the hands of the living legend himself.

The Team of Hyderabad Arts Festival also felicitated all those individuals and organizations who made the season 5 of the festival a grand success.

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a very popular and eminent artiste par excellence. He is known for his outstanding contribution in popularizing Indian Classical Music all over the world. His consummate artistry has distinguished him as the greatest living master of the North Indian Bamboo Flute, acclaimed both at home and abroad.

He has composed music for many Indian films. The famous "Silsila" which he collaborated on with Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma was a platinum disc in India, and the musical duo Shiv-Hari went on to compose soulful music for many successful movies like Lamhe, Chandni, Faasle, Parampara, Sahibaan and Darr.

With this program the three month old Season 5 Hyderabad Arts Festival comes to an end. The three month long Hyderabad Arts Festival is the India’s longest performing Arts Festival. It was organised continuously for the fifth time to celebrate the spirit of Hyderabad.

The festival which took birth in 2012 as a result of a trio - a Hyderabadi, a Keralite and a Tamilian, for the love of the city has become India’s longest performing arts festival now. And has become a name to reckon in the industry.

This year too like in the past, the organizers -- A.V. Ramakrishna from Hyderabad, C.S. Manoj from Kerala and Capt. Anand from Chennai, who made Hyderabad their home - lined up impressive non ticketed events held at different venues across the city for the past three months.

Hyderabad has the 400 years of rich cultural heritage. It has been projected as the Global City. It played host to many luminaries like Bill Clinton, George Bush, Kofi Annan, Bill Gates and many others. HAF wants to contribute to this aspect by organizing good events in its annual festival that runs for 3 long months every year.

HAF is growing big each year, which is evident from the continuous requests received from various performers to include them in the coming seasons. Organizers have also been getting enquiries from people from different cities to take the festival to many cities. We are actively considering going to different cities. We are studying the proposal. As of now we are unable to commit but for sure that we will take forward this festival to across many cities in India in near future, informed the trio--Ramakrishna, Manoj and Capt Anand.