J-K: Vomedh, a theatre group conducts talent hunt to promote Kashmiri culture, language

The auditions for the talent hunt were conducted at the central university campus at Ganderbal on July 27 and the finalists from the talent hunt performed in a glittering cultural function at Tagore Hall, Srinagar.

The event was well attended by a cross-section of youth and witnessed some mesmerizing singing and dance performances by upcoming and talented youth artists.

Prof. M. Afzal Zargar, Registrar Central University of Kashmir was Chief Guest on the occasion. Renowned actor and theatre artist Ayash Arif was the guest on the occasion.

In his address, Prof. Zargar called the collaboration between Vomedh and the Central University of Kashmir an important step toward connecting youth to culture and roots.

"Vomedh being an expert in this field brings in a lot of strategic and tactical experience which helped us conduct these events very smoothly. We are keen to take this association forward with Vomedh in other facets of language and cultural preservation", Prof Zargar said.

The program started with the felicitations of the guests followed by the welcome address by President Vomedh Rohit Bhat.

"Project Pagah took off as an initiative to promote the Kashmiri language early this year and was received very well. It is time now to connect youth with Pagah. Without the engagement and participation of youth, any initiative for language or culture cannot be successful. Pagah youth connect will be a series of events which will connect and engage youth primarily. The primary objective will be the propagation of love for the Kashmiri language and culture. Moreover, the focus will be to give a platform to upcoming and promising artists and the language will be Kashmiri. I am also grateful to Gulfam Barji for all the coordination and support for this collaboration", he said.

The auditions saw a good participation of over 50 students out of which six each from the singing and dance categories were finalized for showcasing talent in the cultural show.

The singing and dance performances by the young and talented artists mesmerized the audience.

The variety of genre and finesse over the Kashmiri lyrics won the hearts of the audience and demonstrated that there is no dearth of talent amongst the youth.

Renowned musicians Pt. Krishen Langoo and Sanam Sajad were jury for singing while the noted choreographer Sunny Mujoo judged the dances.

The finalists for dance were Mehar Khanam, Aanish Fayaz, Amir Khalid, Sunita, Masrat Jabeen, Siyan and for singing were Sajad Ahmad Chadnoo, Aqib Bashir, Rizwan Yaqoob, Ajaz Ahmad, Ashiq Rasool, Kurshid Ahmed.

A stage play Marnoprant was also performed & acted by Shazi Khan and Puneet Jai Bali.

The highly intense play was Directed and Improvised by Shazi Khan and written by Surinder Verma. Ayash Arif also applauded Vomedh for his initiatives across J&K.

"Vomedh is a leading 14- year-old cultural organization of J&K. It has to its credit hundreds of theatre shows, scores of cultural events and the feat of organizing the Jammu film festival.

I think the youth connect program is a much-needed platform and I congratulate Vomedh on this initiative" he said.

The event ended with felicitations and the distribution of awards and certificates. Rashid Nizami, a well-known anchor of J&K who has been anchoring almost all the events of Vomedh in the valley, very well anchored this event as well.

Manzoor Ahmad Mir, a well-known theatre artist presented the vote of thanks.

"We are committed to working towards the preservation of our mother tongue which is losing its ground very fast. Kashmiri is not used as a first language at home anymore and overall, the future of the language looks very bleak. We announced the project Pagah this year on international mother tongue day to specifically work for the preservation of the Kashmiri language. We will continue doing engaging programs under Project Pagah to take this initiative forward with the support of the people of the valley", said Rakesh Roshan Bhat while explaining the thought behind the event. (ANI)