Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani celebrated its annual programme, Gurupranaam (picture, left), in memory of Prasun and Meera Banerjee with scholars and students from the institution. The programme was inaugurated with the theme song, “Aalo”, which smoothly brought together two sandhiprakash ragas, Bhatiyar and Marwa. A Sanskrit bhajan in Raga Yaman Kalyan was followed by a series of compositions in Raga Bhupali sung deftly by the female scholars. This was followed by a bhajan in Raga Kafi. The male scholars presented a unique transpositional concept in which Raga Malkauns sung in the B pitch blended seamlessly with Raga Durga sung in the D pitch. Accompanying the scholars on the tabla were Sudhir Ghorai and Roudraswa Rakshit* and Subhasree Das and Durba Bhattacharyya were on the harmonium.
The senior artist, Jyoti Goho, gave a scintillating performance on the harmonium with his son, Sourabh Goho, on the tabla. Together they brought out the charm of the ragas, Shree and Yaman; they concluded with another composition in Raga Pilu as well as a dadra in Raga Kirwani. The vocalist, Indrani Mukherjee, enchanted the audience with her son, Anjishnu Mukherjee, on the tabla and Shantanu Bhattacharyya, who spearheaded the entire programme, on the harmonium. Beginning with stotras in an* elaborate Raga Yaman, Indrani Mukherjee went on to perform a Kabir bhajan based on Raga Desh.
The sarod exponent, Shiraz Ali Khan, played Raga Hemant with Aarchik Banerjee providing able support on the tabla. It was a delightful rendition of a composition by Ustad Allauddin Khan. They concluded with a melodious dhun in Raga Zila Kafi.
The programme concluded with Vivek Pandey’s solo recital on the tabla. He played teentaal with a rhythmic diversity that he maintained throughout. Amaan Hussain provided adept accompaniment on the sarangi. It was a perfect conclusion to the programme.
Mangalacharan organised their annual event, the Yuva Vadya Sangeet Utsav (picture, right), at Sisir Mancha. This was a unique *duet instrumental music festival by the youth. The conference began with a beautiful ensemble of 15 sitar and sarod artists, a presentation that was conceptualised and orchestrated by Siddhartha Roy Chowdhury. The participants of* this particular performance were aged around seven years, creating an interesting ambience*. The next performance was a duet *of violin and harmonium by Souparno Ghosh and Paramshivam Ghosh, respectively. They played Raga Charukeshi in a pleasing manner and were accompanied by Kingshuk Mukherjee and his son, Mayukh Mukherjee, on the tabla.
Arka and Sounak Roy played Raga Madhuvanti on the sarod accompanied by Sudip Chakrabarty on the tabla. They also played a short composition in Raga Shree to conclude. Raga Yaman flourished in a recital that brought together the santoor and the flute, played by Banani Das and Saranya Sarkar, respectively. They were accompanied by Sohon Ghosh on the tabla. A unique combination of esraj by Soham Maity and slide guitar by Siddhajit Mondal was arresting. They chose Raga Kirwani and Rohen Bose provided the artists with skilled support on the tabla. Snehesh Nag and Swarnendu Mondal presented a *sitar and sarod duet accompanied by Anjishnu Mukherjee on the tabla. They played Raga Jaijaivanti and enchanted the audience with their intricate *laykari and improvisations.
