9 days of Carnatic music in Sharjah

Mohana Kumar performs during the Ekata Navarathri Mandapam Sangeethotsavam. — Supplied photo

About 100 Indian classical singers from the UAE received a platform to perform at a nine-day Indian classical music festival which concluded in Sharjah on Thursday.

Held to mark the Navrathri festival, the Ekata Navarathri Mandapam Sangeethotsavam was organised under the patronage of the India Trade and Exhibition Centre. Held for the third consecutive year under Ekata social and cultural group’s banner, the music festival was conducted in similar pattern being followed at Thiruvananthapuram Navarathri Mandapam in the south Indian state of Kerala.

On each of the nine evenings of the festival, tributes were offered to great musicians who have made valuable contributions to Carnatic music.

Besides offering a venue for the devotees of Carnatic music to perform musical offering and for the music lovers, the event also aimed at paying respect to Swathy Thirunal Rama Varma, a king of erstwhile Travancore dynasty, who was an exponent of Carnatic music.

The event was divided into three segments of three days each: Intellectual enlightenment, global peace and prosperity respectively. More than 150 Carnatic musicians and artists from the UAE and other GCC countries took part in the festival over the last two years according to the organisers.

news@khaleejtimes.com