Bamu team emerges championship winner in Folk Art Festival

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The host team of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) won the championship of the first Folk Arts Festival on Monday.

By winning prizes in eight different art forms, the university team also etched its name on the Dr Sanjay Navle Memorial Folk Arts Trophy.

Vice-Chancellor Dr Vijay Phulary and theatre artist Dr Ganesh Chandanshiv distributedthe prize to the winners in a ceremony held today. Pro VC Dr Walmik Sarwade, Registrar Dr Prashant Amrutkar, Management Council members Dr Ankush Kadam and Dr Yogita Hoke Patil and Director of Students Development Board Dr Kailas Ambhure were prominently present.

While municipal corporation election campaigning was at its peak in the city, young artists who had come from villages and rural areas enjoyed two days of folk art performances.

A total of 63 teams participated in the first two-day Arts Festival organised by Bamu. Two teams—one from the university city campus and another from its sub-campus area also participated.

The district-wise teams are as follows: Beed (12), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (39), Dharashiv (four) and Jalna (eight). Altogether, 377 artists from 63 teams took part across 11 folk art forms. Among them were 175 boys and 202 girls, while 162 teachers participated as cultural coordinators and team managers.

Director of the Student Development Board, Dr Kailas Ambhure, said that the best team of the Festival was honoured with the Dr Sanjay Navle Memorial Rolling Trophy.

A total of 11 art forms were presented on four stages during the last two days. Performances were held at Lokarang, Bhavrang, Swar-rang and Shabdrang. The university team won prizes in seven art forms—Powada, Bharud, Lavani, Folk Theatre, Qawwali Jalsa, and Poetry and also won the Dr Sanjay Navle Memorial Trophy.