SAARC Folklore – Heritage Festival was organised, coinciding with the Silver Jubilee of SAARC, at Chandigarh, India, during 03rd to 05th December, 2010 by Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) in collaboration with South Asia Foundation; Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India; Chandigarh Administration and Arpana Fine Arts.
The Programme had two parts:
- Academic Seminars on all the three days in the mornings where about 70 delegates from all the SAARC countries participated in the presentation of papers and had lively discussions. The Academic sessions were inaugurated by Her Excellency, Mrs. Margaret Alva, Governor of Uttarakhand. A resolution was adopted in the concluding session.
- Cultural Evening Performances were also held at Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh in the evenings which attracted a wide audience, some of the visiting artists performed at some of the schools during the school hours. This was greatly appreciated by the school children.
Some of the Performance like Choreographed Dance of students from Ariyarathne Kaluarachichi of University of the Visual & Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Hozagiri –Riang Tribal Dance of Tripura; Gotipua Dance of Orissa performed by boys aged 5-15, Salam Logary Gp of Afghanistan, Folk Guitar by Ibrahim Waheed of Maldives, Sufiana Qawaali by Kuldip Quadir of Punjab; Dhol Wala Saeen and Malang of Pakistan, Sufi Songs by Muhammad Iqbal Baho, Pakistan; etc kept the audience glued to their seats.