Sacred Amritsar Festival: Aruna Sairam, Dolly Guleria mesmerise audience with stunning live performances

Neha Saini

Amritsar, March 26

Padma Shri Aruna Sairam, one of the biggest names in Carnatic music, gave city residents a night to remember as she took the audience on a tour of India with her music during the ongoing Sacred Amritsar Festival at Qila Gobindgarh.

Her act, titled ‘Maargi, Traveller across India’, began with Saraswati Vandana and moved on to a surprising Dogri lullaby — Tu Mulla Tu, originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar — then to a Gujarati folk song and finally ended with her famous act, Kalinga Narthana thillana, a vocal rendition of Lord Krishna’s encounter with Kaliya Naag. The final act got a rousing reception from the audience for her range and nuance, complete with the hissing sound of the snake.

It is quite unusual for a Carnatic music artiste to perform folk music or semi-classical, but her repertoire has moved beyond the conventions of Carnatic music and barriers of language and geography. Before she performed, she also spoke about her art to the audience, who were listening to her for the first time as it was her first concert in the city.

Aruna has collaborated with several eminent international artistes and has also recently been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite, the knight of the order of the merit by the French Government, for her contribution towards development of the Indo-France relations.

Preceding Aruna’s performance, eminent Punjabi folk artiste and singer Dolly Guleria and her daughter Sunaini Sharma made the audience dance to the vibrant folk tunes of Punjab with their tribute to the nightingale of Punjab, Surinder Kaur. Dolly performed classics from her mother’s music repertoire — Bajre Da Sitta, Chan Kithe Guzari Aai Raat, Lathe Di Chadar.

If Sairam kept the audience hooked to their seats in awe, Dolly made them dance to nostalgic folk classics.

Before the performances, two sessions were conducted in which conservation expert Gurmeet Rai delved into the history and heritage of Amritsar in a session titled ‘Amritsar: A City of Remembrance’, and actor-author Deepti Naval talked about her book, ‘A Country Called Childhood: A Memoir’.

Highlights of day 1

• Aruna Sairam performed Kalinga Narthana thillana, a vocal rendition of Lord Krishna’s encounter with ‘Kaliya Naag’.
• Dolly Guleria and Sunaini Sharma made the audience dance to the vibrant folk tunes of Punjab.
• Gurmeet Rai in a session, ‘Amritsar: A City of Remembrance’, delved into the history and heritage of Amritsa. In another session, Deepti Naval talked about her book ‘A Country Called Childhood: A Memoir’