Performers from 8 Countries to Participate at SAARC Folklore Festival in Chandigarh
- at Tagore Theatre on Dec 3-5 2010

* Specttrum PR

FOSWAL to hold 3-day heritage festival at Tagore Theatre on Dec 3-5
Folklore Academic Research Seminar will be held at UT Guest House

Chandigarh, Nov 30, 2010, Specttrum News: The Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) will organize a three-day SAARC Folklore & Heritage Festival in Chandigarh on December 3-5, 2010.

A three-day folklore academic seminar will also be held at the UT Guest House during this period. Some of the folk performences will be in the day programmes 10.30 – 12.30 hrs at Shivalik Public School Mohali, Carmel Convent School Chandigarh and Headquarters of West Command Chandi Mandir on 3rd, 4th and 5th December respectively. The idea behind is to take the folklore to all nooks of tricity.

FOSWAL, an apex body of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), is the only organization in eight countries including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Afghanistan, legally authorized to hold cultural programmes under the SAARC banner and logo. The event is being supported by Ministry of External Affairs and Chandigarh Administration.

Manmohan Singh Mitwa, vice president and chief coordinator, informed that one of the initial resolution of SAARC body was “We are the mad dreamers of the SAARC region. Let governments do their political and diplomatic work. Let us, the writers and the creative fraternity of the region, endeavour to create bridges of friendship across borders, and beyond borders.”

He further added, “Of all the emotional linkages, folklore is of most vital importance, because it emanates from our centuries-old historical memories, sharing a civilisational journey, both horizontally and vertically, at micro and macro levels. Folklore of the SAARC countries has a unique continuity which emphasizes the similarities in our feelings and experiences, since the beginning of mankind in this civilisational belt. This is the culture which does not depend on the elite. It is the culture of the folk- tribals and adivasis. It is the culture still living, throbbing, thriving in the mud-huts of villages, in the fields of the farmers, in the forests which are the dwellings of the adivasis and tribals.”

The prominent scholars and special invitees of the programme will include Her Execellency Ms Margaret Alva, Dr Karan Singh, Dr Namwar Singh, Sitakant Mahapatra, Dr Ashok Vajpeyi, Mijarul Quayes (Bangladesh), Dr A K Rashid (Afganistan), Ibrahim Waheed (Maldives), Prof C M Bandhu (Nepal), Dr Dorji Penjore (Bhutan), Prof Ariyarathne Kaluarachchi (Sri Lanka) and Dr Saleh Mohammad (Afganistan).

In these times of conflict and terror, poverty and lop-sided development resulting in hunger and malnutirion at grass-root levels in the region, FOSWAL keeps highlighting the common concerns, through culture, literature, theatre, films and exhibitions etc. FOSWAL is headquartered in New Delhi at Academy of Fine Arts & Literature. Renowned writer Ms Ajeet Cour is it’s president.

For more information please contact:
Narvijay Yadav *
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