Hockey WC: Storytelling Fest At 4 Places In Bhubaneswar From Jan 14; Know The Performers

Bhubaneswar: Actor-director Nandita Das is among the various artistes who will be performing at the BhuFesto (Bhubaneswar Festival of Storytelling) being organised on the sidelines of FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in Odisha capital from January 14 to 17.

She will be performing on January 17 at Indira Gandhi Park.

Curated by Bakul Foundation as a part of Dot FEST, the City Festival, to keep alive the great saga of local literature, poetry and stories, BhuFesto is being organised by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Odisha Tourism. The storytelling events will take place simultaneously at four places in the city – Buddha Jayanti Park at Chandrashekharpur, APJ Abdul Kalam Park near SUM Hospital, Kalabhoomi at Pokhariput and Indira Gandhi Park at Unit 2 – from 2.30 pm to 7.30 pm.

Renowned storytellers from Brazil, Scotland, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Africa, along with several artistes from Odisha and other parts of India, will weave magic with fantastic tales and folklore. A unique storytelling session employing sign language has been developed for the benefit of the visually and hearing-impaired guests.

THE STORYTELLERS

Bongiswa Kotta Ramushwana from South Africa will perform on all four days. She will perform at A P J Abdul Kalam Park on January 14; Indira Gandhi Park on January 15; Buddha Jayanti Park on January 16 and Kalabhoomi on January 17.

Award-winning internationally-acclaimed storyteller Antonio Rocha from the US will perform at Indira Gandhi Park on January 14; Kalabhoomi on January 15; A P J Abdul Kalam Park on January 16 and Buddha Jayanti Park on January 17.

An international storyteller from Indonesia Ariyo Zidni, who is also known as “Kak Aio”, will perform at Buddha Jayanti Park on January 14; A P J Abdul Kalam Park on January 15; Kalabhoomi on January 16 and in Indira Gandhi Park on January 17.

Roger Jenkins from Singapore will also be a part of this extravaganza. He has also won many awards in storytelling, including the Best Storyteller Award at the 16^th Kanoon International storyteller Festival. He will perform at Kalabhoomi, Buddha Jayanti Park, Indira Gandhi Park, and A P J Abdul Kalam Park on January 14, 15, 16 and 17 respectively.

Similarly, Marion Kenny from Scotland will tell stories at Buddha Jayanti Park, A P J Abdul Kalam Park, Kalabhoomi, and Indira Gandhi Park on January 14, 15, 16 and 17 respectively

Apart from them, many well-known Indian storytellers have also been invited to BhuFest.

‘Kavad Katha’, the 400-year-old storytelling tradition from Rajasthan, will be brought alive by Akshay Gandhi. He has been instrumental in reviving this tradition and will perform at Kalabhoomi,  A P J Abdul Kalam Park, Buddha Jayanti Park and Indira Gandhi Park on January 14, 15, 16 and 17 respectively.

Neelesh Mishra, who is probably the most famous voice on radio and the host of “The Neelesh Mishra” show, will perform at Indira Gandhi Park on January 14.

Himanshu Bajpayee, who is a leading dastango and also famous for being a part of the Netflix series ‘Sacred Games Season 2’, will perform at Indira Gandhi Park on January 16.

Ramendra Kumar will also be at Indira Gandhi Park on January 16. He is a writer and storyteller. He says he is really excited to perform in his “karmabhoomi” Odisha.

Rohini Vij is a professional storyteller and the founder of NutSpace. She will perform on January 16-17 at  Kalabhoomi and A P J Abdul Kalam Park respectively.

Kapil Pandey, who has travelled the country to tell his stories, will perform on January 14-15 at Buddha Jayanti Park and Indira Gandhi Park respectively. He is also the President of Kutumb Foundation, which uses drama and football to engage with language and holistic learning.

Anubha will perform at A P J Abdul Kalam Park,  Kalabhoomi, Indira Gandhi Park and Buddha Jayanti Park on January 14, 15, 16 and 17 respectively. She is a well-known storyteller, voice artist, poet and entrepreneur from Uttarakhand.

Sangya Ojha and Hashim Haider, co-founders of The Puppetarians’ will at A P J Abdul Kalam Park and Indira Gandhi Park on January 14 and 15. They have puppeteered characters like Elmo & Louie for Sesame Street India (Galli Galli Sim Sim) and performed at Dance India Dance and Kaun Banega Crorepati. They have been awarded Billionth Award for creating COVID-related Puppet Show videos with UNICEF, called Tara Hai Taiyar.

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