Tabla Ashram (Bhilai, Chhattisgarh) organised an evening of Indian classical music to commemorate the birth anniversaries of the tabla maestro, Swapan Chaudhuri, and the veteran sarod player, Alok Lahiri, at Uttam Mancha. The programme commenced with a short Odissi recital by Arpita Sahoo from Bhubaneswar. Somdatta Chatterjee chose Raga Marwa in vilambit ektaal followed by a jhaptaal composition and a tarana in drut teentaal for her vocal recital. She concluded with a dadra in Raga Mishra Charukeshi. Debjit Patitundi on the tabla and Kamalaksha Mukherjee on the harmonium accompanied her. A solo tabla recital by Partha Sarathi Mukherjee from Bhilai was appealing. He presented teental, starting with peshkar, palta, theka, and following this up with kaida, rela, gat, tukda, and chakradhar. He was ably accompanied by Hiranmay Mitra on the harmonium.
The highlight of the evening was a sarod duet by Alok Lahiri and his son, Abhisek Lahiri, who were accompanied by the tabla exponent, Swapan Chaudhuri (picture, left). They commenced their performance with an alaap, a jod and a jhala in Raga Malkauns, followed by vilambit and madhyalay teental compositions. The father-son duo concluded with a soulful dhun in Raga Bhairavi.
Hansadhwani dedicated its annual music conference to Late Pandit Arun Bhaduri and Sangeet Acharya Bidyut Das Bairagya. The event began with felicitations to skilled instrument-makers. The opening performance was of the afternoon raga, Bhimpalashri, rendered on the sarod by Mayukh Gangopadhyay, followed by a vocal recital by Dipankar Roy in Raga Patdeep. Both artists exhibited talent and depth in their performances. The highlight of the evening was a sitar recital by Partha Bose (picture, right). His interpretation of Raga Shree, from a meditative alaap to an intricate gat, enchanted the audience. He was ably supported by Parimal Chakrabarty on the tabla. The conference concluded with a vocal presentation by Tushar Dutta. His mature exploration of Raga Shuddh Kalyan was entertaining. He also sang a bhajan at the end.
The Yuva Sangeet Samaroh, a two-day music festival featuring budding talents of Indian classical music (aged twenty-five and under) from across the country, was held at the auditorium of Bhartiya Sanskriti Samsad. The first session was inaugurated by the vocalist, Narayan Das Bangare, from Rajasthan; he focused on the Havelisangeet. Banani Das’s santoor recital of Raga Madhuvanti, along with Roudrashwa Rakshit on the tabla, had flourish. The vocalist, Asmit Vyas, presented Raga Bhimpalashri and a bhajan in Raga Mand, with Mayukh Mukherjee on the tabla and Paramshivam Ghosh on the harmonium. Mayukh Mukherjee also played a tabla solo in teentaal with Sarang Sambhare on the harmonium. Swastik Khan rendered Raga Yog and Raga Desh with Sayan Bhattacharya on the tabla. The sarod player, Swarnendu Mandal, played the ragas, Jayjayanti and Manjh Khamajh, with Anjishnu Mukherjee on the tabla.
Agamani Das began the second session with guru vandana and the ragas, Ahir Bhairav and Sindhu Bhairavi. The sitarist, Souvagya Karmakar, played Raga Parameshwari with Nabagata Bhattacharya on the tabla and Arijeet Banerjee presented teentaal on the pakhawaj. Raga Vrindabani Sarang bloomed on Rick Mukherjee’s flute, while Suryadipta Bhattacharya presented Raga Bhimpalashri and Charukeshi on
his slide guitar with Archishman Sinha
on the tabla. The vocalist, Mitra Bhattacharya, rendered the ragas, Purvi and Hameer, whereas the mandolin player, Rajarshi Sengupta, performed the ragas, Bageshree and Piloo, with Suprabhat Bhattacharya on the tabla. Swar Sharma, who descends from Pandit Yashraj, presented Raga Nat and “Mata Kalika” in Raga Adana, which he picked from his grandfather’s repertoire.