Kalpana Patowary invited by Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department to perform for the – “Greatest show on Earth” the Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 in Allahabad on 1st February 2013.

Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department presents mega musical extravaganza on 1st February , 2013.

Featured artists: Bhojpuri singer Kalpana Patowary.

 

All Indian Vidyas have at their foundation the philosophical percept that all activities are for the divine and even entertainment is for the achievement of the higher goals. 

So the Kumbh Mela is regarded as important to a performer as any other pilgrims where both the performer and the audience are expected to raise their consciousness levels through the action of performing or viewing.

Assamese singer and Bhojpuri icon Kalpana Patowary never fails to surprise the listener. She has been invited by UP Tourism & Cultural Department to perform for this year’s “greatest show on Earth” globally, the Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 in Allahabad on 1st February 2013. Maha Kumbh Mela, often described as the “greatest show on earth” globally, will go on for next two months and will conclude on Maha Shivaratri on March 10 with a turnout of about 70 million people from across the country as well as abroad.

The 55-day congregation by the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna and the invisible, mythical Saraswti began on Jan 14 in Allahabad. It is the largest ever gathering of humanity in a single place in all of history, an event that occurs once every 12 years.

Kalpana Patowary-musician-singer-composer-recording artist-record producer is going places, literally. She has carved a niche for herself as a leading vocalist and is flourishing. Her latest conquest was a rocking performance at the recent India’s Happiest Festival - Bacardi Nh7 Weekender Pune @ Bandra Fort with world renowned percussionist Trilok Gurtu.

She got International acclaim with the release of her Bhojpuri musical documentation on the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri Literature – The Legacy of Bhikhari Thakur from EMI/Virgin Records. Her latest album to be released in Maha Kumbh 2013 is Maa-e-ri – A Lyrical conversation with Mother Nature. She is also working on a musical documentation to lay down connections for the future, about the reformer, a wandering philosopher, saint and poet, creative genius and consummate artist Mahapurush Shrimanto Shankardeva and his disciple Srimanta Madhavdeva in Assam who walked across Northern India, to the source of the Ganges and returned to his people in the cloistered valley of Assam and called for a union of all the people in a united Bharatvarsha. He preached Eka-Sarana-Nama-Dharma a monotheistic doctrine based on the Bhagvata Purana with Surdas, Chandidas, Kabir, Vidyapati the Maithili Poet and Lyricist, Mirabai, Narsi Mehta the poet saint and Bhakta from Gujarat, Vallabhacharya the devotional philosopher from Andhra, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal at a time when a young 24 year old Guru Nanak was also exploring his own vision of Eka-Sarana-Nama-Dharma which he went on to preach throughout the world as “Ek Omkar Satnam”. It was the dawn of the Bhakti Era. The language used is Brajawali and she will be credited of bringing back some of Assams primitive instruments in collaboration for the first time with Trilok Gurtu - master of Indian music, tabla, percussion, and Western drumming who plays a unique hybrid East-West drum set up. He is the son of legendary vocalist Shobha Gurtu.

A multi talented singer, initially trained in Assamese, folk and Indian Classical music, Kalpana Patowary a devoted vocalist, sings in 23 different languages, is the darling of the North Indian belt fondly called as the “BHOJPURI QUEEN’ and has been hailed as a prodigy in the world of Bhojpuri music. “She gave Bhojpuri Music a new twist”. Critic wrote that she changed the art of Bhojpuri vocals. Very few people know that Kalpana Patowary is as versatile that she justify or render both in raw folk forms as well as western singing. Kalpana Patowary’s music genre is about primitive / acoustic folk with some traces of Indian classical music, ambient electronic and new age jazz - fusion.

Many acknowledge her as having powerfully contributed to a resurgence of Bhikhari Thakur traditions in Bhojpuri. Kalpana Patowary combines a powerful singing style with a magnetic ability to communicate with her audiences. Her concerts are more than entertaining music and are deep engagements with the spiritual and social thought of music.

As Kalpana says, I don’t want my folk music to be trapped in our villages. Yes it’s safe there in its original form, but of no use unless we make the world hear our very soulful and meditative music. So to make it global I am trying to blend the music of my homeland with world music and other genres.

A popular name in the live folk music circuit in the country, Kalpana’s USP is probably the fact that her recordings carry the same energy that she exudes on stage.

Kalpana said, she has performed from big cities to small towns and villages in UP to huge crowds before but this experience will be something else altogether.