Festival to promote India's cultural heritage across art forms

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) The upcoming Mahindra Roots Festival will aim to explore unique and lost forms of Indian cultural heritage through theatre performances, folk, classical, Sufi and contemporary music recitals.

The three-day festival will be organised at Bandra Fort Amphitheatre, Rang Mandir and Anti Social club from February 24.

Organised by Mahindra Group, the multi-discipline cultural festival will see sessions of immersive storytelling, classical music and poetry in multiple Indian languages, Marathi devotional poetry form of 'abhanga' and Bengal's Baul music tradition, among other performances.

While theatre director Roysten Abel will bring his popular production, "Weaving Voices", to the festival in a blend of music, stagecraft and storytelling on the opening day, film maker Shabnam Virmani will deliver a soulful rendition of Kabir poetry on the second day.

Folk-fusion band Abhanga Repost will perform traditional Marathi abhangas, and singer Arko Mukherjee will present a unique musical fusion of traditional and modern styles at the festival.

Folk music and storytelling collective 'The Aahvaan Project' will aim to create a space for conversations around the relevance of love through their performance.

The cultural event will witness performances by multi-instrumentalist Tajdar Junaid, Tech Panda x Kenzani, Hashbass x Burrah, singers Jasleen Aulakh, Alif, Raghu Dixit, Raju Das Baul and Shilpa Mudbi.

"India's culture is a melting pot of diversity, steeped in rich history and heritage and infused with numerous art forms, dialects and languages. And with Mahindra Roots, we seek to celebrate the essence of this legacy and put it into the limelight," Jay Shah, vice president - cultural outreach at Mahindra Group, said in a statement.

The festival will come to a close on February 26. PTI MAH MAH