Echoes From Maihar was an exposition on the depth and the beauty of the famous Maihar Gharana. The festival commenced with a serene performance by the sitarist, Tadao Ishihama, who rendered Raga Ahir Bhairav with Ariff Khan on the tabla. This was followed by a sarod recital by Amitava Majumdar, who presented Raga Basant Mukhari with Rupak Bhattacharjee on the tabla.
The afternoon session opened with Krishnamohan Bhatt playing Raga Bhimpalasi on the sitar along with Parimal Chakrabarty on the tabla, while the evening session had an energetic sarod duet by the father-son duo, Alok and Abhisek Lahiri (picture). They presented Raga Hemant and Raga Kafi, perfectly accompanied by Sabir Khan and Asif Khan on the tabla. The festival concluded with a soulful duet on the flute by Vivek Sonar and Aniket Maharana, who performed Raga Jog and Raga Hamsadhvani. Samar Saha accompanied the artists on the tabla. Echoes From Maihar reflected the commitment of the organiser, Kuhak, to cultural and social development
beyond music.
G.D. Birla Sabhaghar was witness to an artistic splendour, Purushottam Sree Ram, as part of the fourth edition of the Nritya Gatha Dance Festival organised by the G.L. Mehta Foundation and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Presented by Kalamandalam under the guidance of Soumit Kutty, Purushottam Sree Ram combined conceptual clarity with devotional sincerity. Conceptualised and choreographed by Swarnadeepa Mahanta, the production traced the timeless story of the Ramayana. Familiar devotional compositions like “Shri Ramachandra kripalu bhajamana” and “Thumak chalat Ramachandra” brought a freshness to the production. The choreography drew from Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam and the fusion worked effortlessly to convey a wide range of emotions. The seamless integration of style, form, and feeling portrayed Mahanta’s artistic command and vision, which was supported by Debopam Das’s script.
Satakshi Mukherjee, Srinjini Banerjee, Trisha Chakraborty, Tapoja Chakraborty, Sreelekha Chatterjee, Sampriti Mukherjee, Avishikta Dasgupta, Ankita Dutta, Tiyasha Das, Chandan Roy, Rahul and Titon performed with discipline, expressiveness, and cohesion.
