Navaratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu deity Durga. Navratri, meaning 'nine nights', is one of the most popular and widely celebrated Hindu festivals in many parts of India. Gujarat, however, is the only state that erupts into a nine-night dance festival, perhaps the longest in the world. Each night, all over the state, villages and cities alike, people gather in open spaces to celebrate feminine divinity, referred to as Shakti.
The dance form known as Ras Garba (also joined sometimes by dandiya, which uses small wooden sticks), comes from Lord Krishna's worship rather than Goddess worship, from the Gop culture of Saurashtra and Kutch. Stories of relationships between Krishna and the Gopis, and their emotions, also often make their way into the Ras Garba music.
Nevertheless, the focal point of every Garba circle is the small Goddess shrine erected by each community to mark the beginning of the festival, on the first day of the Hindu month of Ashwin. The shrine includes a garbo, an earthenware pot, in which a betel nut, coconut, and silver coin are placed.
Raas or Dandiya Raas is the traditional folk dance form of Gujarat, India, and is associated with scenes of Holi, and lila of Krishna and Radha at Vrindavan. Along with Garba, it is the featured dance of Navratri evenings in Western India. During Navratri festival, in most of the cities of Gujarat people gather and perform Garba dance - an event that is becoming increasingly popular in countries with large Gujarati-speaking communities around India and abroad, such as Mumbai, Pune, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Navratri festival is celebrated by housing societies, corporate offices, political parties in different cities and suburbs. In Maharashtra, many women organize traditional 'Mangalagauriche Khel' in front of Goddess Durga.
There are different entertainment options to make a Navratri festival memorable. Here are some of the entertainment options :
Getting immersed in devotion towards Goddess Durga. Devotional singers like Prashant Kalundrekar, Mahesh Phadke, Amita Gokhale, Mukund Marathe, Ninad Ajgaonkar, Sanjay Nadkarni, Abhijeet Kosambi, etc can be invited to sing Abhang, Bhajans and devotional songs of Durga.
A melodious Bhajan Sandhya can be organized in Rs. 30000 onwards.
A DJ - disc jockey is a person who mixes recorded music as it is playing. He palys a number of songs non-stop like a collage of songs. The Dandiya Raas performers paly Dandiya to these non-stop toe- tapping songs of the DJ
DJ Sonu, DJ Brinston, DJ Gaurav, DJ Mansur, DJ Kunal are some of the popular DJs for Navratri. The remuneration of DJs ranges from Rs. 10,000 to 1,50,000
A truly unique alternative to Navratri festival celebration is an instrumental music show. Music gives relaxation to our mind. There is a lot of variety to instrumental music. Programs like Flute recital or a Violin solo or a Piano concert or a Fusion or a Jugalbandi of instruments like Sitar and Violin, Flute and Sitar, etc. Instrumentalists like Aparna Deodhar - Sitar, Milind Tulankar - Jaltarang, Vivek Joshi - Sarod, Vivek Sonar - Flute, Sushant Katkar - Accordion, Radhika Budhkar - Rudra Veena, etc are some of the excellent and professional artists who can invited to perform for the deity.
The remuneration for instrumental show ranges from Rs. 30,000 to 1,50,000
Mangalagauriche Khel is a popular folk form in Maharashtra. The women like to learn and try various 'Mangala Gauriche khel'. Shaila Acharya, Sangita Bodas, Veena Kulkarni, Asmita, etc are some of the enthusiatic artists who will teach you 'Manglagauriche Khel'.
Mangalagauriche Khel can be organised in Rs. 10000 onwards.
"Laughter is the best medicine", goes a well-known adage. The comedian usually recites humorous stories, jokes, one-liners or does mimicry. A comedy show can be in the language of your choice. Popular Marathi, Gujarathi, and Hindi stand-up comedians like Bharti Singh, Sunil Pal, Rahul Ingle, Ujwala Kulkarni, Sadanand Chandekar, Chirag Wadhwani, Manan Raval, etc can be invited to perform in Ganesh mandals and also in housing society Navratri celebrations.
The remuneration for stand-up comedians ranges from Rs. 20,000 to 1,50,000
“Where words leave off, music begins”, says Heinrich Heine. Ganesh mandals and housing societies can have melodious music orchestras with singers like Abhijeet Kosambi, Shrikant Narayan, Kaushal Inamdar, Vaishali Made, Binal Prajapati, Hemangini Jhaveri, Anuja Sinha, Santosh Agnihotri etc. Bollywood classics, contemporary hits, folk songs, etc are presented in orchestras.
An orchestra can be arranged from Rs. 70,000 onwards