JOIN USHampi, the capital city of one of the greatest empires of medeival India, will come alive for the next three days as the city in ruins will witness the cultural diversity unfold as part of the famed Hampi Utsav.
After a two-year gap, the three-day cultural festival of dance, music, folk arts and rural sports will kick-start from today. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the Utsav at an inaugural event to be held at SriKrishnadevaraya Vedike on Friday evening. Speaker Kagodu Timmappa will preside over the concluding day function on Jan 11.
Five mega stages, named after Vijayanagar emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya, MP Prakash, Daroji eramma, Vidyaranya and Hakka-Bukka, erected for the utsav will provide a platform for a battalion of musicians, dancers and folk artistes from across India and beyond to unleash their talent.
This year, Bollywood singers and composers including Himesh Reshammiya, Mika Singh, Javed Ali, Richa and others will enthrall the audience.
Sandalwood music composers Gurukiran and Arjun Janya will treat the audience to popular Kannada numbers during the utsav.
Playback singer Anuradha Podwal, Hindustani vocalist Kaivalyakumar Gurav, Banandur Kempaiah, Pichchalli Srinivas, flutist Bapu Padmanabha, shehnai player Pt Basavaraj Hediggonda, Bharatanatyam danseuse Lakshmi Gopalswami will als perform during the three-day cultural fest.
Also on the menu are Songi Mukawate of Maharshtra, Badi nritya of Madhya Pradesh, Rasleela of Manipur among other things.
The organisers have invited overseas artistes to perform at Hampi Utsav. Troupes from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Congo will treat the audience to the artforms of their countries.
There is something for the sports lovers too. In a bid to promote rural sports, the organisers will hold competitions in traditional mud wrestling, mallakambh and kabaddi.
Hampi By Sky, an initiative of district administration launched last year to promote helitourism, will continue this year too. Visitors to the city in ruins can have aerial views of the World Heritage Site during the three-day Utsav.