The annual 'Octave Festival', organized by the North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur (NEZCC), would be held in Vadodara from February 10-14, a senior official said today.
"'Octave - The Festival of the North-East', would be organized in Vadodara from February 10-14, in which at least 280 artistes from the eight states of North-East India would participate," Vadodara district Collector Avantika Singh told reporters.
It is for the first time that the event is being organized in Vadodara, which is the cultural capital of Gujarat, she said, adding it would be held at Sir Sayajirao Nagar Gruh in Akota area of the city.
Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya would attend the festival on February 11, she said.
"Rock band and other musical performances, exhibitions, theater shows, seminars, traditional dances, vegetarian food stalls, etc would mark the five-day event," Director of West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur, M Furqan Khan said.
"The region comprises eight states, namely Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Sikkim. Hence, the name 'Octave'," Singh said.
"The festival was introduced by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India to provide a platform to the artistes and artisans of the North-East region to project their rich cultural heritage," she said.
The festival is being held since 2006.
Minister of Minority Affairs, Najma Heptullah, welcomed
the initiative saying that there was nothing better than culture that united us and that the event reflected the message of 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam' in the true sense.
"I welcome this initiative. Today, we have gathered here with a message of unity and peace, and I believe that the message of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam is being emanated from here in the true sense.
"We might have different religions but this diversity is only in language. Our cultures are same. We are united in one word that we are all Indians," she said.
They evening progressed as students from each country presented their distinctive songs from their countries as Indian students shook a leg to match the tunes. A selection of ethnic dances from different countries and different regions of India were also a part of the event.
The participating countries included Azerbaijan, Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Tanzania, Tunisia, Ukraine, Hungary, US, Gerogia and Russia.
The first edition of the festival was hosted by Turkey in 2003, and the participation has increased exponentially since its inception. Nearly 2000 students attended the IFLC festival held in 145 countries last year.
The earlier editions of the festival held in Indonesia, Morocco and Australia, had also seen similar active participation of Indian students.
