gurgaon for the citys festival of performing arts a break from tradition while the gurgaon utsav has hosted a oneoff performance in april this was the latest the spring edition had visited the citystill it remained the talk of the town even with an excellent celebration of hindustani classical being hosted not too far away over the same weekend its the magic of the venue that keeps bringing the crowds back but mostly its the quality of the performers a credit to the curating talents of the festivals organisers this year it all began with mahmood farooqui who proved that he has few peers when it comes to the art of dastangoi in a mesmerising narration of the story of karnaordinarily we like our heroes flawed of many shades and karna is one such a character that speaks to our times one who stubbornly refuses to be overwhelmed by lifes tribulations farooqui gave voice and emotion to each character minor and major but was superb in fleshing out karna bringing him alive in all his heroismfarooqui sahib too has faced the darkness one reason why he could get under karnas skin so credibly of course this wasnt just about the dastangos acting skills as good as they were it was about farooquis ability befitting of a masterful storyteller to paint pictures through words and to do so in five tongues urdu hindi arabic sanskrit and persian achieving a beautiful fluency that a linguist would be proud of the acclaim at the end was well earned full of admiration and warmthon the middle evening prahlad tipanya as traditional as any folk artiste drew upon years of experience and kabirs allembracing vision to reach the hearts of all the wonderful thing is that tipanya never received any formal vocal training but as he said the humbleness and sweep of kabirs message and his candour of expression makes the poetmystic a laureate of the common people and tipanyas engaging onstage manner livedin voice and fidelity to purity of form makes him the ideal companion on a journey into kabirs soulthe sisters nooran were a mixed bag they turned up late with no word of apology and tore into a medley of sufi compositions as if to make up to a restless audience more than full house at the amphitheatre in the aravali biodiversity park a medley that had a crazed redemption about it alas the rest of the evening while bursting with a whirlingdervish energy and interludes of lustilysung poetry had little to recommend itof the siblings jyoti was the livewire almost carrying the show on her shoulders sultana merely a supporting act yet like a rainstorm that brings respite to a parched land but overstays its welcome the sisters relied overmuch on force of personality and less on rooh but the audience had certainly had its fillthe gurgaon utsav was presented by the arts and literature foundation in partnership with the municipal corporation of gurgaon and the department of art and cultural