Rajarani Music Festival

Rajarani music festival is one of the famous festivals of Orissa which is organized annually by Odisha Tourism Department in collaboration with other organizations like Orissa Sangeet Natak Academy, OTDC and the Union Ministry of Tourism. The purpose of the festival is to popularize the glorious tradition of Indian classical music. Rajarani music festival is an evening musical concert held for two days in the backdrop of the 11th century Rajarani Temple complex. Various forms of Indian classical music like Hindustani, Carnatic and Odissi are celebrated with extraordinary performances of various famous singers and an instrumentalist from different parts of the country. This musical extravaganza not only attracts locals, travelers across the globe love to attend the festival. They are fascinated about the culture of the state they are visiting or planning to visit.

History

The Rajarani Music Festival promotes the century old classical music. Entrancing performances by well-known Odissi and Hindustani vocal and music maestros bring alive the architectural beauty of the Rajarani temple. This unusual temple is located on immaculately kept grounds and doesn't have a deity associated with it. It is said that it got its name from being a pleasure resort of an Oriya king and queen (raja and rani) as the temple also has erotic carvings of women and couples