Following a rich tradition

Cultural Spread

The 80-member team of Sri Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha is all set to host Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava (BGU) from September 11 to 22. The 12-day cultural extravaganza will be held at APS College Grounds, Basavanagudi and will  feature the best talents in the country.

S M Nandish, the managing trustee of Sri Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha, said that the organisation has been upholding the rich tradition of culture and heritage through magnificent presentations of music, dance and drama for 47 years. “Established by noted literate Ku Ra Sitaram Shastri in 1962 and patronised by stalwart of Kannada literature D V Gundappa, ‘BGU’ has been a major cultural festival of South Bangalore. Three lakh people witnessed the 12-day extravaganza last year,” he said.

He informed that the 48th ‘BGU’ will feature performances of Pandit Jasraj, Hema Malini, Sivamani, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan with his sons Aman and Ayaan, Master Hirannaiah, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher, Suma Sudhindra, Vijay Prakash and Praveen D Rao.
This year, in an endeavour to revive the traditional art form rangoli, BGU is holding Rangarang — the Rangoli Utsava to create magnificent designs in vivid colours. “The preliminary round was on August 8 at APS College Grounds and we are expecting 1,500 contestants. Top 100 participants will showcase their talents across the length and breadth of DVG Road in the finale on September 12. The first three prizes will be 100 gm gold, 50 gm gold and 25 gm gold respectively,” he said.

“Aromas of Karnataka — The Food Utsava, that was introduced last year, continues to be part of the celebrations. Cooks from six regions of Karnataka will bring in the most delectable traditional cuisine,” he said.

Sivamani, the famous percussionist who has been consistently performing on this platform for over 10 years, was present at the media briefing.

“I have seen the evolution of Bengaluru Ganesh Utsava through years of my association with it. Performing at the Utsava is a sheer honour and a pleasure. It should become an inspiration for the youngsters to pursue art as a career,” he said.