Panchkula, April 16th: The Grand finale of the Silver jubilee celebrations of Seven Zonal Cultural Centres of India representing the Art, Culture cuisine, Heritage and Tradition across all regions and states of the country concluded amidst a lot of gaiety and merriment in the august presence of Kumari Selja, Hon’ble Minister of Culture and Minister of Housing& Urban Development Poverty Alleviation, Government of India and Sh. H.E Shivraj V. Patil , Governor of Punjab and Chairman North Zone Cultural Centre NZCC. The dignitaries at the closing ceremony of the Silver Jubilee celebrations at Parade Ground included Chowdhary Ishwar Singh, Hon’ble M.P Rajya Sabha and Mr.Rajpal MLA .Sh.Shiv Charan Sharma, Hon’ble Culture Minister Haryana accompanied Kumari Selja, Hon’ble Union Minister of Culture during the closing ceremony witnessing special folk & Tribal Music and Martial dances Presentation.
The choreographed performances based on more than 15 singing forms and 12 martial arts performed by more than 1000 artists were witnessed by the august audience at the main stage .During the day there were more than 3o art form performances simultaneously being enacted performed at the aagan stages within seven Mini villages of all Seven Zonal cultural Centre of India. 15 master craftsmen at these individual Mini villages representing the Heritage & Traditional artwork of their respective regions and States .The master craftsman at the stall made brisk sales on the last day as the surging crowd wanted to buy exquisite art crafts and have the everlasting glimpse of the cultural extravaganza at the Parade Ground Sector 5 Panchkula.
The renowned artists performed during the closing ceremony on the main stage with dancing and singing art forms of various States and Regions providing an opportunity to public to witness the cultural Heritage of the Country at a common platform. Prominent these musical forms included Chanting from Sikkim, Thumchen from Jammu & Kashmir, Sankh Vadan from Orissa, Algoza from Rajasthan, Baul Kirtan from West Bengal, Bhortal from Assam, Jangam Gayan from Haryana, Bhakan from Jammu & Kashmir, Dhadhi from Punjab, tati from Nagaland, Nirgun Bhajan from Rajasthan, Kajri Gayan from Uttar Pradesh, Golparia musical instruments from Assam, langa mangniar singer’s performance from Rajasthan.
Whereas the exemplary Martial Arts were performed by the artists of various States of Country including Akhada from Madhya Pradesh, Dahal Thungri from Assam, Dand Patta from Maharashtra, Diwali of uttar Pradesh, Raibanshe of West Bengal, Dandia Gair of Rajasthan, Talwar Raas of Gujarat, Ruk mar Nacha of Odissa, Kalaripayattu art from Kerala, Naibul thangta of Manipur, gatka of Punjab and Silambattam martial Art from Tamil Nadu.
The concluding ceremony had a spectacular fireworks marked the end of the gala four day long Silver Jubilee Celebrations at Panchkula.
Earlier Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Silver Jubilee Celebration of ZCCs on April 13th, 2012. Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) were set up 25 years ago and conceptualized to preserve, innovate and promote the projections and dissemination of folk arts cutting across regional cultural borders and bring about unity through culture. The 7 overlapping zones comprising the Zonal Cultural Centres have promoted, cross-promoted and created opportunity for cultural exposure and awareness among the people of different states and regions. With the philosophical implication that the number 7 has, the seven ZCCs epitomizes a celebration of cosmic time and space.
The seven ZCCs are North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata, West Zone Cultural Centre, Udaipur, North East Zone Cultural Centre, Dimapur, North Central Zone Cultural Centre, Allahabad, South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur.