Dhwani Academy of Percussion Music celebrated its annual music festival at Sarat Sadan in Behala under the guidance of the percussionist, Abhijit Banerjee. The programme captured the evolution of Indian classical music across generations. A unique and appreciable part of the event was the performance by the students of Calcutta Blind School under the direction of Pallab Ghosh. The participants were Prasenjit Bhaumik, Rituraj Manna, Nepal Singh, Ranit Basak, Sayan Mandal and Deep Saha. A vocal recital by Subhashish Mukhopadhyay captured the essence of Raga Maru Bihag in a vilambit and a teentaal kheyal. His rendition of a rare composition by Girija Shankar Chakraborty in Raga Bahaar was interesting. Uchhal Banerjee and Ranjan Mukherjee accompanied him on the tabla and the harmonium, respectively.
Mita Nag (picture, left) enchanted the audience with her sitar recital in Raga Jaijaivanti. The alaap, jor and jhala followed by vilambit and teentaal gatkari were full of exquisite intricacies. The rendition of Raga Kafi in madhyalay was melodious. She was supported by Indranil Mallik on the tabla.
The second session of the festival commenced with a Kathak recital by Sandip Mallick. The artist started with a Rabindrasangeet and presented thats, amod, parans, different bols as well as tatkars and tihais. He was assisted by Subir Thakur and Jaydeep Sinha on the tabla, Sunanda Mukherjee on the sarod, and Aniruddha Mukherjee on vocals. Samapriyo Goswami, a winner of the Pandit Gyanprakash Ghosh Award, played the sreekhol with Hiranmay Dhali on the harmonium.
This was followed by a sarod recital by Abir Hossain who chose the rarely-heard Raga Hamsakinkini, which brings together the flavours of the ragas, Bhimpalasi and Jog. He was assisted by Venkatesh D.C. on the tabla. Raga Saraswati flourished in the sarangi recital by Harsh Narayan with Dipin Das on the tabla. Narayan elaborated skilfully and ended the performance with Raga Mishra Pilu. The programme concluded perfectly with a captivating solo tabla recital by Sanju Sahai, with Hiranmoy Mitra accompanying beautifully on the harmonium. The compèring by Koushik Sen brought the different strands of the programme together.
Swardarbar Sangeet Sammelan, held at Uttam Mancha, featured a wide range of artists from different corners of the country. The two-day music festival began with a vocal performance by Hemant Mani Tiwari. He started with a bhajan accompanied by Dipankar Roy on the tabla and Samiran Biswas on the harmonium. The vocalist, Rakesh Pathak, performed the ragas, Purvi and Vasant, with Arunava Mukherjee on the tabla. Kamala Shankar’s slide guitar performance commenced with Raga Marubihag, followed by a dhun in Raga Mishra Pilu. The vocalist, Sandip Bhattacharjee (picture, right), entertained the audience with Raga Jog in vilambit and drut kheyals. He completed his performance with a dadra and had Sandip Ghosh on the tabla, Sandeep Mishra on sarangi, and Sandip Sen on the harmonium as accompanists.
The young artist, Adrija Banerjee, presented an arresting Bharatnatyam performance. The students of Swar Darbar, Sayanti Bhatterjee, Nilanjana Sarkar and Rimil Ray, presented Raga Behag with Sayan Chatterjee on the harmonium and Gopal Das on the tabla. The flautist, Nitin Amin, presented Raga Shyamkalyan followed by Raga Mand and was accompanied by Subhojyoti Guha on the tabla. Samit Mallick’s performance
of a dhrupad and a dhamaar in Raga Kalawati with Mithun Chakraborty on the pakhawaj was enchanting. Partha Bose’s sitar recital with Durjay Bhowmick on the tabla provided the perfect conclusion to the evening with the artist choosing to end with a melodious thumri.