NEW DELHI: A music group with Sufi/Folk music by Dr Mamta Rani alias Dr Mamta Joshi will form part of the Festival of India being organised in Ghana from 25 January to 16 March 2018.

According to Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, the activities planned during the Festival in Ghana are: Amalgamation of Indian classical dances; Music (Sufi/Folk); and Saptarang – confluence of seven classical dance forms.

In addition, the other events to be held in the Festival of India in Ghana are Food Festival, Film Festival; and Yoga and Meditation Lecture-cum-Demonstration by the Indian Embassy in Ghana.

The Minister told Parliament that the likely expenditure on the Festival will be around Rs 1,16,77,280.

The artistes with Mamta Joshi will be: Chetan Mohan alias Chetan Mohan Joshi, Deepak Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Roshan Lal, Gurinder Singh, Jaswant Singh and Surinder Singh.

He said the Festival of India is an ongoing scheme of the Culture Ministry under which Festivals of India are held in foreign countries. As the part of the Festival, the Ministry organises cultural events in different genres such as Exhibitions, Theatre and Literary events.

Decision regarding the countries where Festivals of India maybe held is taken based on a number of factors including proposals received from Indian Missions abroad, announcements made during the VVIP visits, significant milestones in relation with the foreign nations, etc. This is an on-going process, he added.

The Dance Group at the inaugural function will be an amalgamation of Indian Classical Dances by Lok Chhanda Cultural Unit The artistes are:

(i) Ms Maitreyee Pahari - Leader
(ii) Nibedita Mohapatra - Artist
(iii) Shailja Nalwade - Artist
(iv) Ritushree Choudhury - Artist
(v) Shilpa Verna - Artist
(vi) Shweta Devendra - Artist
(vii) Kuleshwar Thakur - Artist
(viii) Nikhil Lal - Artist
(ix) Nand Kumar - Artist
(x) Sandeep Nag - Artist
(xi) Shubhamani Singh Mayanglambam - Artist
(xii) Victoria Devi Kouthoujan - Artist
(xiii) Sangita Devi Sorokhaibam - Artist
(xiv) Anoop Joshi - Artist
(xv) Rajesh Saibabu - Artist

Saptarang Classical Dance artistes are:

(i) Shubhada Mahohar Vardkar - Leader
(ii) Latasana Devi - Aritst
(iii) Renjish Nair - Artist
(iv) Shreya Sabharwal - Artist
(v) Sanskriti Uday Bhanu Chatterjee - Artist
(vi) Pranali Vijaykumar Jambhale - Artist
(vii) Sujatha Nair - Artist
(viii) Neeru Sabharwal -Coordinator
(ix) Ajay Sambhaji Kasurde - Light and sound