MEMBERS of the various Praants countrywide of the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha will be competing for different prizes at the Sabha’s Kala Utsav on November 25 from 10:00 hrs at the Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud Dharmic Kendra.

Participants will be competing in various categories such as Ramayan Chanting (male and female categories), Kirtan, Tassa, classical dances, folk dance and instrumental. Before the participants could have made it to the final there were preliminaries held at the various Praants selecting the best for the final competition.

Kala Utsav was introduced by the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha in 1994 and provides a platform for hundreds of youth to express their talents. Many participants have also discovered their talents at the competition and today are artistes. One such person is Purnash Durgaprasad. In 1998 he performed at Kala Utsav representing the East Berbice Praant for which he won the first prize on the Male Singing category. Even though he was very young at the time, the signs were already there.

He has emerged into a fantastic local singer and still loves Anup Jalota’s bhajans.