Lucknow: The three-day UP Diwas celebrations drew to a close on Tuesday with bhajans and light music performances at the Rashtra Prerna Sthal. Singer Prathiba Singh Baghel gave a soulful performance of bhajans and light music, while Sudha Pal from Mathura presented folk dance and Devika S Manglamukhi from Delhi presented kathak dance.
Ajay Pandey from Lucknow captivated the audience with his folk music, followed by Birha singing by Chedilal from Kaushambi. The event concluded with music by Shiv and Shivang from Rae Bareli.The event, which was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah in Lucknow, saw the essence of UP captured in various traditional and folk-art forms. An exhibition on Lucknow’s development, ODOP and ‘One District-One Cuisine’ scheme drew hundreds of people.A rock fusion performance by Indian Ocean was another major draw at the event. The programme saw kathak performances by Saurabh-Gaurav Mishra from Varanasi, a tabla performance by Pooran Maharaj, singing by Shweta Dubey from Varanasi and Sheetal Mohan Mishra from Azamgarh, and classical dance by Lucknow’s Vishal Gupta. Chandrabhushan from Unnao staged a play, which was very popular with visitors.On the 2nd day of the event, the main attraction was light music by Vineet Singh from Mumbai. Cultural programmes were held throughout the day, with highlights including Veerendra Singhal from Jhansi, folk singing by Lucknow’s Ranjana Agrawal, bhajan singing by Varanasi’s Ganesh Pathak, Rai folk dance by Vandana Kushwaha from Jhansi, and a performance by the kathak duo Rahul-Rohit Mishra of Varanasi. Harish Tiwari from Delhi gave a soul-stirring classical music performance, followed by tabla by Ilmas Khan from Lucknow.
