Musicians Vishnu Kant Choudhary and Aashish Chaterjee (right) at the inauguration of I Play I Learn School. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Nov. 17: A branch of classical music school Kshitij was inaugurated today by Padma Shri award winner Gajendra Narayan Singh (noted music critic and writer).

Leaving art for long is just impossible for a true artist and when the desire turns into passion for art it brings out a true performer like Aacharya Maya, the renowned classical singer (an All India Radio and Doordarshan artiste).

She is also a postgraduate in political science and had topped the university. She had immersed herself in riyaz and today her prayer for music has been answered through the inauguration of another branch of classical music and art institution Kshitij named I Play I Learn School.

Kathak, tabla, guitar, octopad and painting would be taught at the school.

It was a beautiful musical evening, which saw the rendition of classical music in all its various facets like Raag Bhim Palasi, Vilambit, Drut lay accompanied with Jhala (faster rhythms) and folk traditional tune.

“Acculturation has permeated into our society in every walk of life and so our culture too gets influenced especially when the youngsters are driven by western music. We have given our lives to music and we really feel sad for the acculturation. But we are not helpless and we will try our best to make it possible to go back to our cultural origin” said Padma Shri award winner Gajendra Narayan Singh who was the chief guest on the occasion.

The audience was mesmerised by Saraswati Vandana “Varde Veena Vadini” by Shreya and her 14 friends in Raag Yaman accompanied with Shantanu and Animesh on tabla. It was the opening act of the evening.

The attraction of the day was a sitar recital by Aashish Chaterjee with Vishnu Kant Choudhary (a disciple of Ustad Sabir Khan Sahab) on tabla in Raag Bhim Palasi. His intense notes touched the hearts of the audience.“Seeds of art and culture germinate in childhood,” said Maya Aacharya, the administrator of Kshitij.

She said: “Listening to the ragas was a childhood hobby for me since the age of four. When I was older, my maternal uncle gifted me a tanpura, which is very precious to me till now. My interest took me into the tutelage of Late Ashit Das Chakraborty. Under his guidance, I took my initial training in classical music and later on under the guidance of Shri Datatriya Kaliji, the disciple of Pandit Kumar Gandhak”.