Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 30: Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs Government of India presented a musical dance based show ‘Kunju Chanchlo’ at the jam-packed Auditorium of College for Women, Parade, Jammu under its Horizon Series.
Eminent Punjabi writer and the member of the regional advisory committee of ICCR Jammu Khalid Hussain was the Chief Guest on the occasion whereas the show was presided over by Dr. Hemla Aggarwal, Principal of the College.
Earlier a film featuring ICCR was also screened on the occasion. Welcoming the august gathering Regional Director of ICCR Jammu, Balwant Thakur dwelt in detail about the programmes and activities of Indian Council for Cultural Relations and its prime mandate to bring nations together through cultural diplomacy. He expressed his heartiest gratitude to Prof Hemla Aggarwal, Principal, Government College for Women, Parade Jammu for giving ICCR an opportunity to reach out to younger audiences who need to be culturally oriented through such initiatives.
Introducing to the audiences the group M Jackson Cultural Institute of Society to the audiences, Balwant Thakur informed that it was established by J R Sharma (Jackson) in 1993 is registered as Society and is recognised by J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages. The group has the credit of having performed across the length and breadth of the country in addition to Turkmenistan in Russia. The group has taken the initiative of presenting folk ballads, particularly folk love ballads through traditional music and dance. The presentation of popular folk tale ‘Kunju Chanchlo’ sung through immortal heart rendering music is their first presentation of the series, the music of which has been composed and arranged by yet another established musician and singer Surinder Singh Manhas. The presentation was inspired by the folk song depicting the tragic tale of ‘Kunju’ and ‘Chanchlo’ is sung by the entire Dogra region including larger parts of tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh. In that in Himachal the Gaddi boys of Chamba often sing the legendary love story of Kunju and Chanchalo.
In addition to the presentation of musical ‘Kunju Chanchchlo’ few more Dogri folk songs presented in dance-drama style included ‘Isse Gran Deya Lambra O’ including other vibrant dance based songs written by JR Sharma and Yash Paul Yash. The artists who participated in the programme included J.R. Sharma (Jackson), Pratiksha Sharma, Neetu, Anuradha, Ritu Manhas, Tashi Padmo, Renu Bhan, Shivani Bali, Diskit, Harkirat, Vijay Singh, Rajan Singh Jamwal, Vipan Verma, and Anil Kumar. The show was ably anchored by Aditi Dubey.
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