City to welcome Christmas with Sangeet Mela

Kolkata: In a bid to reach out to more people, the state government has decided to hold Sangeet Mela on Christmas from 9 in the morning.

Similar arrangements will be made on the last two days of the Sangeet Mela that is December 29 and 30.

This year, Sangeet Mela is going to begin from December 23 and will continue till December 30.

On Christmas and the last two days of the festival, artists will be performing from 9 am at five different auditoriums including Rabindra Sadan, Madhusudan Mancha, Sisir Mancha, Phanibhusan Mancha and Rabindra Okakura Bhavan in Salt Lake. While on rest of the days, the performances will start from 5 pm as usual.

According to a senior official of the state Information and Cultural Affairs department, every year performances of different artists start from 5 pm on all the days of Sangeet Mela. But this year, three days have been chosen when the performances will begin from 9 am.

Artists from all across the state will be performing at Sangeet Mela. According to the official, around 1500 artists will be taking part in this eight-day long musical fest.

The official mentioned that the step has been taken considering that it will help more people to witness Sangeet Mela and at the same time, it will be come as a bonus for the city dwellers in the winter festive season.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) to a new height in the past six years. Similarly, people of the state keep waiting for a year for Sangeet Mela. Like previous years, "parae parae" Sangeet Mela will also take place this year in which artists will reach out to certain localities in the city to perform.

The Mamata Banerjee government has taken several steps to support artists like Lokoprasar Prakalpa for folk artists.