Bangla Sangeet Mela to be inaugurated today

Kolkata, Dec 23: The West Bengal Government’s annual Sangeet Mela is going to start today, and will continue till December 30. 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the prime inspiration behind this festival of songs. She herself will inaugurate it from the Uttirna open-air stage in Alipore.
This year, more than 3,000 artistes will be performing. Also, this year, in a bid to reach out to more people, the government has decided to hold the festival from 9 am on three days – December 25, that is, Christmas Day, December 29 and December 30. On the rest of the days, the performances will start from 5 PM.
The artistes will be performing at Rabindra Sadan, Madhusudan Mancha, Sisir Mancha, Phanibhusan Mancha, Mohar Kunja, Hedua Park, Deshapriya Park and Rabindra Okakura Bhavan in Salt Lake.
Artistes from all across the state will be performing at Sangeet Mela. 
According to a senior official of the State Information and Cultural Affairs Department, which is organising the festival, around 1,500 artistes will be taking part in this eight-day long musical fest.
Like in the previous years, there will be a segment called ‘Paraye Paraye Sangeet Mela’, in which artists will reach out to certain localities in the city to perform.
The Trinamool Congress Government has taken several steps to support artistes, like the Lok Prasar Prakalpa for folk artistes. UNI