The cultural tapestry of Calcutta was enriched by an exceptional evening of Indian classical music and dance at Uttam Mancha. The event was organised in honour of Prabha Atre, one of the most revered figures in Indian classical music. The evening had enchanting presentations featuring Atre’s compositions. The senior vocalist, Arati Ankalikar Tikekar, presented Raga Apoorva Kalyan — a raga synthesized by Atre — featuring compositions in vilambit ektaal, ada chautaal and drut teentaal. This was followed by the ragas, Janasammohini and Kalavati. Ankalikar Tikekar concluded her recital with a dadra in Raga Mishra Maaru Bihag. She was ably accompanied by Samar Saha on the tabla, Rupashree Bhattacharya on the harmonium, and her disciples, Rakhi Chatterjee and Ruta Deshmukh, on the tanpura.
Adding to the splendour of the evening was a specially conceptualised Bharatanatyam performance, Antah-Prabha (The Light Within), presented by the illustrious dancer, Mallika Sarabhai. In Antah-Prabha, Sarabhai gave a solo performance on the theme of ashtanayika using a concert recording by Atre — “Ghir ghir ke aayi badariyaa”, a dadra/kajri in Raga Mishra Pilu. The choreography was a visual treat for the audience and represented contemporary socio-economic issues that affect women’s psychology. It was a perfect blend of the ancient Sanskrit concept of the ashtanayikas and their emotions with modern women’s strength and prowess. Sarabhai’s graceful enactment was enhanced by the dramaturgy, direction and light design by Yadavan Chandran, the music by Bandish Vaz, and illustrations by Pravin Mishra.
The Sankara Hall and Sankara Institute of Philosophy and Culture in Calcutta celebrates Sharada Navaratri for 10 days every year. Artists from across India and Singapore enriched the festivity and the musicality of this year’s event. The first two days featured the students of Sri Guruguha Gana Vidyalaya who presented a thematic Vibhakti Mala with compositions by Muthuswami Dikshitar. From the third day onwards, the event featured vocal concerts in Carnatic music. Vignesh Sankaranarayan chose Raga Sanmukhapriya for his main rendition and sang the kriti, “Parvati nayakane”, bringing out the best nuances of the raga. Anugrah Lakshmanan sang with devotion a kriti by Subbarama Dikshitar in Raga Sankarabharanam. Puja Suresh performed Raga Gamakakriya as a prelude to the famous kriti, “Meenakshi memudam”, by Muthuswami Dikshitar.
The mridangam maestro, Shankar Narayanaswamy, presented a captivating ensemble called Isai Layam with Akash Mukherjee (vocal), Rick Mukherjee (flute), K.G. Prasad (ghatam) and Subhadra Kalyan (tabla)
Niranjan Dindodi enchanted the audience with a melodic presentation. He chose compositions in Raga Lalit and Raga Todi by Shyama Sastri and Tyagaraja, respectively. Aishwarya Sundaram presented the sixth Navaratrikriti by Swati Thirunal in Raga Pantuvarali and her swara patterns were immaculate. Siddesh Ganesh presented a violin solo of the kritis of Tyagaraja and other compositions in Raga Ananda Bhairavi and Raga Kalyani.
The violin accompaniments for the vocal concerts were by S. Ranganathan, Nataraj Radhakrishnan and Siddesh Ganesh. On the mridangam were R. Srinivasan, Shankar Narayanaswamy, P.V. Sairam, G. Suriyanarayanan, K.G. Prasad and S. Venkatraman.
On the day of Ashtami, the noted mridangam maestro, Shankar Narayanaswamy, presented a captivating ensemble called Isai Layam with Akash Mukherjee (vocal), Rick Mukherjee (flute), K.G. Prasad (ghatam) and Subhadra Kalyan (tabla). It was a wonderful blend of vocals, instrumental and percussion. Shobha Roy and her disciples presented a charming dance performance titled Shiv Shakti, which had classical and folk elements. The event concluded with the traditional Anjaneya Utsavam.
