The 14th edition of the Water Festival, organised by Crraft of Art, is all set to be held at Adalaj Ni Vav in Ahmedabad on Saturday. Artists including the likes of award winning mandolin player U. Rajesh, V. Selva Ganesh, Ranjit Barot and Sanjay Divecha will perform at the Festival this time.
Crraft of Art, an initiative founded by Bharatanatyam and folk dancer Birwa Qureshi said here on Tuesday that the organisation set up in 2010 works as a catalyst. Festivals became a conversation starter after we organised Water Festivals at Sarkhej Roza in Ahmedabad, Birwa added.
A lot of changes happened at that monument, she said.
The three-hour event will also see performance by Ustad Fazal Qureshi on tabla. The event will be hosted by famous Gujarati actor Pratik Gandhi.
The whole aim of the Festival is to bring back the youngsters to the monuments.
The entry for the Festival is free. However, the ones interested will have to register on bookmyshow.com.
Birwa said they are keeping entry free because they want each one to take advantage of it. She recalled an incident where a tea-stall owner had tears in his eyes when he saw Ustad Fazal Qureshi perform. “The tea-stall owner said that he had heard the Ustad on radio, but now he was seeing him live,” Birwa said.
Crraft of Art will also organise festivals at Champaner and Dholavira--World UNESCO Heritage sites. Champaner is located near Vadodara and is the former capital of Gujarat. The festival at Champaner will take place on December 9. Champaner is located on the foothills of famous Pavagadh Hill and has many places of interest.
While, the festival in Dholavira will be organised in January.
The events are being sponsored by Gujarat Tourism.
Birwa said that she had been planning and working towards organising a festival Champaner.