Soorya Festival, the annual cultural event spanning many weeks in Thiruvananthapuram, is going online this time, in its 44th edition this year, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The festival began on October 1 and will go on till October 11.
As is the practice every year, the festival opened with a Carnatic vocal concert by the renowned musician KJ Yesudas, who is known as Kerala's 'Gaana Gandharvan'. This was the 44th consecutive time that Yesudas opened the festival.
"It's sure that Soorya will not be able to commence the 44th annual 111-day long festival in September this year. The same festival without change of artistes and schedule will be held in 2021. To maintain the continuity of the 43-year-old Soorya Festival, there will be an online festival this year," said a note by Soorya.
The Soorya Festival is the brainchild of Soorya Krishnamoorthy, an art connoisseur from Thiruvananthapuram who is known for his passion for the arts.
Following Yesudas's kacheri, a Bharatanatyam performance by Meenakshi Sreenivasan is to be held on October 2. More Bharatanatyam performances will follow with Priyadarshini Govind’s show on October 3 and actor-dancer Divya Unni's show on October 4.
This will be followed by two more Bharatanatyam performances by Rama Vaidyanathan on the 5th and Janaki Rangarajan on the 6th. Neena Prasad will have a Mohiniyattam performance the next evening.
The following three days will see dance performances by three actors-cum-dancers: Lakshmi Gopalaswamy (Bharatanatyam), Manju Warrier (Kuchipudi) and Asha Sharath (Bharatanatyam).
The final show will pay homage to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Jasraj, moderated and presented by Hindustani musician Pandit Ramesh Narayanan.
All the dance performances are pre-recorded and will be 30 minutes long, beginning at 6.45 in the evening. The final show will have recordings of both the late legendary musicians.
Soorya has also announced that a 56-day “national festival of youth” will be organised from December 21. This will include films, theatre, music, dance and discussions.
Watch: KJ Yesudas's concert for Soorya on October 1