An international Ramayana festival will be held soon: Outgoing ICCR chief (Interview)

New Delhi, July 31 IANS) An international Ramayana festival is in the pipeline which would see countries in India's neighbourhood, including Southeast Asia where the Indian mythology has deep roots, participating, said outgoing Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) director general Suresh K. Goel.

"We are still in talks on having an international Ramayana festival. We are working out the details and contacting our neighbours," said Goel, who retires Wednesday as head of India's top institution engaged in cultural diplomacy and projecting Iindia's soft power abroad.

Among other new ventures being planned by ICCR include an international folk arts festival in Goa later this year, as well as an international puppetry festival to be held in Delhi, said Goel.

Among his other achievements, Goel, who joined the ICCR in 2010, is happy at the reception the Delhi Jazz Festival has received. Being held on the lawns of the Nehru Park for the past three years, the jazz festival has become extremely popular. Goel says a qawwali performance by groups from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan along with the Turkish whirling dervishes held on a single platform in Delhi last year was much appreciated.

He said ICCR has seen a "remarkable change" in its image in the past three years with more visibility and outreach.

Among the collaborative work that the ICCR has done is the 'Swan Lake Revisited' presentation that combined flamenco and kathak dance as well as a Hindustani khayal sung to jazz music, he said. The qawwali performance by groups from neighbouring countries was another prime example of collaborative work, he said.

"The idea is to bring out how culture can be a bridge (between nations)," Goel told IANS.

Elaborating on the thought behind holding the Delhi Jazz Festival, he said: "Jazz really represents freedom, it is not bound by any particular grammar and not bound by closed spaces.. that is why the idea came up to hold it in the open."

Listing out some of the other successful events held by ICCR, Goel said the choreography for a cultural event held at Rashtrapati Bhavan during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit last December was "hugely popular", Indian cultural festivals were held in Brazil, China, France and Germany and festivals to mark the centenary of Rabindranath Tagore were held in many countries.

"We have acquired a profile that is very, very unique," said Goel.

However, two high-profile Indian events held by the ICCR - the Malhaar and Thumri festivals - were stopped this year due to budget constraints, he said.

The three-day Thumri festival last year was of very high quality, with three gharanas featured for the first time. It had noted singer Girija Devi of the Benaras gharana, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty of the Patiala gharana and dance performance by Pandit Birju Maharaj and Uma Sharma showcasing the Lucknow gharana. "After reaching that level you cant think of achieving that level again," he said.

Among other activities of ICCR have been organising seminars on Sufism, cultural liberalism and holding important conferences.

"Culture is not just projection of culture, it is to develop conversation with other societies," said the diplomat.

With visibility of ICCR increasing, its art gallery at Azad Bhavan, tucked away in a lane behind the busy ITO crossing, fetches a lot of visitors these days as does its theatre and dance performances, said the outgoing chief who was retiring from the Indian Foreign Service after three and a half decades and has served in Indian missions around the world.

(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at ranjana.n@ians.in)