Anticipation Builds for the Ekal Houston Chapter’s 2017 Annual Fundraiser
HOUSTON: Nothing is quite out of ordinary that Ekal Vidyalaya Houston Chapter will be hosting its annual 2017 fundraiser event on Sunday, May 7, at the University of Houston Cullen Performance Hall. Except, this year’s rendition, titled ‘Ekal Sur Ekal Taal’, will feature a unique musical concert where the audience will experience a medley of Bollywood songs/dances, folk songs, patriotic songs, and Indian devotional music performed by none other than the very artists from the tribal villages of India that the Ekal foundation donations have helped with education, lifestyle, trade, and healthcare awareness. As they say, seeing is believing, and when you see the Ekal Sur Ekal Taal musical concert of 2017, you appreciate and believe even more in the Ekal mission, of making available education and empowerment through its grassroots, non-government movement operating in remote and tribal villages of India.
Committed to the spirit of sharing their gratitude, these Ekal kalakars from villages and tribal areas have spent good part of a year to prepare an entertainment bouquet for this year’s fundraiser events that are currently happening in many cities across the US. Since late February, they have performed in over 15 cities, in front of full auditoriums, and garnered raving reviews across the board for their art, dedication, commitment, and the fervor for delivering this mega-concert. Our very own, Mr. Ramesh Shah, the winner of the Bharatiya Pravasi Award honor in Jan 2017, is traveling with the artists on a bus tour across the country, and has been writing back to the Houston team how this year’s unique program is filling his heart with pride and gratification.
The Ekal’s ‘home-grown’ talent, kalakars, are leaving the audience mesmerized and spell-bound with their authenticity, their connection to the Ekal mission and the personal touch, and above all, their humility and quiet confidence. The choreography, the music, the costumes, the graphics, and the skits are enthralling one and all this year. In many cities, when audiences are asked about the concert and the artists, they are running out of adjectives and superlatives to characterize the performance. More importantly, this year’s event is an expression of gratitude by Ekal students who grew up to be literate, confident, empowered citizens of India, displaying how their lives and their villages are transformed by the Ekal donors. This symbolism is best communicated in the musical concert through an effective yet emotional combination of words, expressions, performance and costumes. As such, these performers have now grown to be the part of larger Ekal ‘family’ and the audience thus far have been embracing them as such, encouraging their adopted sons and daughters to continue to do well and spread their success around, neighboring villages, etc.
The tickets for the May 7th Ekal annual fundraiser are priced at $25 per person, and include dinner in addition to the musical concert mentioned in this article. The tickets are on sale and could be purchased online at: https://www.ekal.org/us
About The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, USA
The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is a tax exempt, registered, non-profit service organization dedicated to bringing education & village development to rural India. The overriding philosophy is to take a holistic approach to social and economic development. The Ekal movement is the largest grassroots, non-government education movement operating in remote and tribal villages of India. Ekal presently operates in 55,000+ villages, educating over 1.5 million children.
For more information about the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation, please visit www.ekal.org and click on Who We Are or What We Do, or contact us at ekalusa@ekal.org.
For further details contact Dr. Vivek Pradhan, Public Relations Office, Ekal Houston Chapter, vivek.pradhan.hou@gmail.com