Kathakali at Independence Day function in Scotland

        Edinburgh: Two Kathakali dancers from Kerala will spice up the Indian Independence Day celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland. About 5000 people are expected to attend the event at the Ross Bandstand on August 18 (Saturday). Organised by the Scottish Indian Arts Forum and sponsored by the Scottish Executive's One Scotland initiative and brewer Scottish and Newcastle, the event will be attended by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond.

           The day-long festival of Indian dance, music, food and culture at the Princes Street Gardens will see the Kathakali dancers spending eight painstaking hours in make-up with their own personal "painter" before performing. Their costumes, costing about 2000 pounds each, are being flown from India, and will be complemented with bamboo headdresses and a form of make-up, called "chutty". "This is not just a celebration of India's independence from the UK, but of the links between Scotland and India. In Sanskrit, we have a saying 'vasudeva kuthumbhakam', which means 'the universe is one family' and that is what we want to promote in this festival - which is why we have such a great mix of Indian and Scottish performers, " the paper quoted Mohindra Dhall, president of the Forum, as saying. The event will be promoted as the Festival Cavalcade on August 5, he added. Celebrated Edinburgh-based brass carnival band Orkestra del Sol and the Drumaoban Highland Dancers will give a performance, while the Scottish-Indian Arts Forum is to hold a Bhangra and ceilidh dance on the open space in front of the bandstand. The evening will finish with a performance of "Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon", a patriotic tribute to Indian soldiers who fell in the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
- July 31, 2007

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