Hyderabad  April 11, 2014: The Chowmahalla festival will present a unique assortment of dance and songs.

The annual Chowmahalla Music and Dance Festival 2014 is all set to begin from this weekend with a rich array of dance and songs spread over three days.

The Chowmahalla festival will present a unique assortment of dance and songs.

The Chowmahalla Music and Dance Festival 2014 begins this weekend

Three days of cultural extravaganza is set to transform the silence of the historic Chowmahalla Palace into princely grandeur in the evenings. The annual Chowmahalla Music and Dance Festival 2014 is all set to begin from this weekend with a rich array of dance and songs spread over three days. While the dance groups from Hyderabad will showcas three different popular dance forms, over three evenings, the choice of singers and genres are varied. Excited over the array of performers, director of Chowmahalla Palace G. Kishan Rao says, “This is one the biggest cultural events held in the Palace every year. The goal is to showcase the cultural diversity of the State along with performers from different regions so as to create a cross-cultural dialogue between different art forms. The events spread over three days begins with dances by an established city-based artiste followed by artistes from different places. To add to the variety we have performances by a ghazal singer, a Qawwal and also a Sufi band.”

The cultural event will see dance performances by Deepika Reddy, Ananda Shankar Jayant and Mangala Bhatt from the city. “The other performers are Ahmed Husain and Mohammed Hussain (Ghazal), Munnawar Masoom (Qawwali) and Shreyas and Abhas (Sufi). The 275-year-old Palace, after restoration, has become the cultural hot spot in the old city. Then after UNESCO declared it as the cultural voice, “It became important for us to match expectations and plan events to keep the cultural heritage active in the palace. The events are mostly held in the open and can manage close to 1000 seating,” informs Kishan Rao.

The event is through invite and begins on April 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Festival Schedule

April 12, (Saturday)

- Kuchipudi by Deepika Reddy

- Ghazals by Ahmed and Mohammad Hussain

April 13, (Sunday)

- Bharatanatyam by Ananda Shankar Jayant

- Qawwali by Munnawar Masoom

April 14, (Monday)

- Kathak by Mangala Bhatt

- Sufi Fusion by ‘Indie Routes’ featuring Abhaas and Shreyas Joshi