The Uttar Pradesh government is making all-out effort to make the UP Global Investors Summit (UPGIS), starting from February 10, a grand event.
One of the highlights of the event is the cultural soiree planned for the inaugural evening, in which many leading artistes of the country will perform, officials here on Thursday said.
In the Tent City that has been built for the occasion next to the venue, cultural events will begin on February 9 and last till February 12. Cultural events will also be held in a number of other locations throughout the city, including the 1090 Crossing, Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport, and the area close to the chief minister’s residence, among others. An entire roster of performers has been finalised.
On February 10, the first day of the summit, a cultural programme will start at 6 pm on the main stage. Rakesh Chaurasia, the world famous flautist from Mumbai, will begin his 55-minute performance. Besides, violinist Kumaresh Rajagopalan from Bengaluru, tabla player Satyajit Talwar, ghatam player Ullur Giridhar Udappa from Bengaluru, drummer Gino Rahul Bux from Mumbai, percussionist Pramath Kiran from Bengaluru, keyboardist Varun Pradeep from Bengaluru, and guitarist K Bruthuva Bhushan Caleb from Bengaluru will also perform on the occasion.
Following this, Akanksha Srivastava of Lucknow will present Kathak dance. Hansraj Raghuvanshi, a bhajan singer from Chandigarh, would captivate the audience with his devotional tunes in 20 minutes. Phoolon Ki Holi will be performed by Mathura’s Vandana in the final five minutes.
In addition to the summit, a series of events will be held in the Tent City on February 9 and continue every evening until February 12. On February 9, a 45-minute rendition of Raga Raageshwari programme by Alka Thakur (flute) will take place. She will be accompanied by Nitish Bharti (tabla) and Zeeshan Abbas (sarangi).
Furthermore, Bina Singh of Prayagraj will present folk dance, Misha Ratan of Lucknow Kathak dance and Sumishtha Mitra of Ayodhya will perform the ‘Kevat prasang’ of Ramayana through folk dance. The show’s duration on February 11 is one hour and 20 minutes. In this Shweta Verma and Aarti Shukla of Lucknow will present Rudravatar program through Kathak dance.
Radha Prajapati of Jhansi will present Rai Nritya (folk dance) of Bundelkhand. Nidhi Srivastava from Lucknow will present the dance drama ‘Raghuveera’ while Dr. Rashmi will present classical songs, and the longest program of 30 minutes will be organised by Rajdhani Band.
On February 12, Dr. Manoj Mishra (Tabla), Shrikant Shukla (Dholak), Mohd. Siddiq (Nakkara), Sudhir Kumar (Mridangam), Zeeshan Abbas (Sarangi), Dinkar Dwivedi (Harmonium), Lalita Haloi (Tanpura) and Shashikant Pathak (Dholak) from Delhi will present a classical ensemble.
Vrindavan-Mathura’s Kunjalata Mishra will perform Krishnam Nritya Vatika whereas Mathura’s Manika Pal will present Mayur Dance and Lucknow’s Tanmay Mukherjee’s band fusion drumming. These programmes will run for 1.15 hours.
On each of the three days (10 to 12 February), cultural events will be held at significant locations throughout Lucknow in addition to the venue. This will involve 23 state-based artists. This will allow everyone of Lucknow to have a glimpse of the state.
Mathura’s Govind Tiwari (mayur dance), Ghazipur’s Sanjay Kumar (Dhobia folk dance), Banda’s Ramesh Pal (Diwari/Paidanda folk dance) and Jhansi’s Imran Khan (Rai folk dance) will perform at Lucknow airport. Sunil Kumar (Dhobia folk dance) and Pradeep Singh Bhadauria (Rai folk dance) of Ghazipur will perform at Chief Minister’s residence (5 KD).
Similarly, there will be performances of Dinesh Sharma (mayur dance) of Mathura, Lakhan Lal Yadav (pai danda folk dance) of Mahoba at VVIP guest house. Vindhyachal Azad (Faruwahi folk dance) of Gorakhpur, Ashok Tripathi (Natwari folk dance) of Amethi and Nishu Tyagi (Badhawa folk dance) of Lucknow will present their art at 1090 crossing.
Jeevan Ram Dhobia of Ghazipur will present a folk dance at Samta Mulak Crossing. Mathura’s Geetkrishna Sharma (mayur dance), Gorakhpur’s Chhedi Yadav (Faruwahi folk dance) will entertain the people at Lohia Park Crossing. Mahoba’s Akhilesh Yadav (wall folk dance) and Mathura’s Manika Pal (peacock dance) will perform at Gate No. 6 of Janeshwar Mishra park.
There will be performances at Gomti Nagar Extension Bypass Road towards Ekana Stadium, Golf City near Lulu Mall, and Awadh Shilpgram as well.
In addition to the cultural programmes, as many as 600 drones will illuminate the entire venue of Vrindavan Yojana during the show to greet the delegates. A gallery will be available for seating the guests to watch the drone display/lighting show. The drone show will be one of the highlights of the events to be organized during the summit.