(From top): Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt performs at the launch of ShankaRagamala; Pandit Ravi Shankar with Music Today business head Gurmeet Singh at the same do; Jesse Randhawa at Club Escape; Preeti and Harsh Goenka at Stylefile Lifestyle

Note-worthy

It was an evening of music and more music as Pandit Ravi Shankar launched his latest music album, ShankaRagamala and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt mesmerised the audience with a 40-minute performance on the mohan veena. The event was held at the Pandit Ravi Shankar Centre in Delhi. The centre is synonymous with Indian classical music and is home to students of music who learn from Shankar.

As expected, ShankaRagamala is a masterpiece from a legend, a man who put Indian classical music on the world map. It consists of a soul-stirring collection of ragas created and reconstructed by Shankar, who perhaps needed an outlet for his creativity after mastering hundreds of ragas already existing in the Hindustani music system. The 28 ragas spread over the album?s three volumes have been rendered by the maestro?s disciples and a number of celebrated artistes.

The new ragas are either reconstructed from old scales or created completely afresh based on the traditional system. Raga Gangeshwari, Raga Bairagi Todi and Nat Bhairav, Raga Parameshwari and Raga Rangeshwari are just some of the ragas on the album. By adding elements of Khamaj to Yaman Kalyan, Shankar has even created a new melody called Yaman Manjh.

The artists featured on the album include Shankar?s daughter Anoushka on the sitar, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on the mohan veena, vocalists Lakshmi Shankar and Samaresh Chowdhury, Gaurav Mazumdar on the sitar, Shubhendra Rao on the sitar, Partho Sarthy on the sarod, Barry Phillips on the cello and Manju Mehta, Kartik Kumar, Shamim Ahmed Khan, Kartik Seshadri and Deepak Choudhary on the sitar.

Style rules

Stylefile, a venture of Preeti Goenka and Sumedha Saraogi, which promotes the best of Indian fashion brought to Mumbai recently its fourth edition of Stylefile Lifestyle. It was an interesting and wide-ranging exhibition of art, fashion and lifestyle products featuring clothes and home accessories.

Held at the Hilton Towers, Stylefile Lifestyle had some of India?s leading designers and artists on its roster. Designers Rohit Bal, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Raghavendra Rathore, Anamika Khanna, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Puja Nayyar, Darshan Shah, Haresh Shah, Vivek Narang and Amita Gupta were at their creative best given the exclusive items on display. Besides garments, the designers also showcased handbags, cushions, mats, unusual bedspreads and much more. The show also saw renowned artists like Paresh Maity, Sunil Padwal, Tanuja Padwal, Karl Antao, Satish Gupta and Gopinath displaying creations such as murals, sculptures, light fittings, lamp shades and furniture. Stylefile Lifestyle also featured designer couture jewellery by Raj Maithani and fusion jewellery by Suhani Pittie.

The exhibition was well-attended and spotted at the do were everyone from Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla and Dolly Thakore to Haseena Jethmalani, Sangeeta Chopra, Avanti Birla, Krishna Mehta and Manali Vengsarkar.

Fashion and fun

Fashion, food and fun was the mantra at the newly-launched Mumbai hotspot, Club Escape. A star-studded fashion show showcasing haute couture was followed by a dance performance by Maushmi Batra and a celebratory party.

Kicking things off was a fashion show by upcoming fashion designers Naina Shah, Neha Nagpal and Rehan Shah. Choreographed by Rehan himself, the show had unusual designerwear on display with models sauntering up and down the dance floor. Naina?s collection of clothes was a psychedelic explosion in pinks, yellows and blues. Inspired by the 60s, the line was fresh and bold in design.

Rehan, on the other hand, chose to infuse some funk into lingerie with bright colours and feathered accessories. The highlight of the evening, though, was Neha who experimented with leather and vests. In a medley of browns and earthy shades, Neha?s collection was both trendy and completely wearable.

On the ramp were some of the country?s top models including Jesse Randhawa, Nina Manuel, Candice Pinto, Anchal Kumar, Seema Shetty and Shilpi Verma. Among the beefcake brigade parading in the designerwear were lesser-known names like Shabbir Ali, Kushaal Tandon, Aneesh and Ritesh.

Photographs of the ShankaRagamala
launch by Rupinder Sharma