In pictures: Hindustani Khayal Talent Search Contest takes classical music to a new high

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The classical music contest was organised for the first time to inspire young musicians still discovering their musical pathways. It was held for those aged between 16 and 22 years, with a total of nine participants from all over India competing to kickstart their musical careers. Eminent classical music personalities like Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharyya, Bidushi Ruchira Panda and Ustad Waseem Ahmed Khan were present on the judges’ panel (featured). Along with cash prizes, the winner of this contest received a chance to perform at the Suromurchhana Annual Music Festival at Uttam Mancha on June 17

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The winners were announced on the official website of Suromurchhana a few hours after the event, following a meticulous judgement by the panel. Shreya Gonugunta (right), Aadya Mukherjee and Sumoulika Sarkar secured the first, second and third positions, respectively. “I try to practise at least two hours every day,” said Shreya, a student of engineering from Bengaluru. Shreya is the first one in her family to pursue music and her biggest musical inspiration is Pandit Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande. ‘I want to pursue my Master’s and then get back to music. I want to contribute my best to classical music,’ she added

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Aadya Mukherjee (right), a student of Delhi Public School from Varanasi, said she learnt classical music under the mentorship of Pandit Debashish Dey. ‘Because of academic pressure, I can’t devote more than two hours to music, but I make sure that those two hours are highly fruitful,’ she said. Aadya began her musical journey when she was three-and-a-half years old. ‘My biggest role model is my guru Pandit Ajay Chakraborty, to whom I’ve devoted my entire musical self. It is through him that I have understood the definition and essence of music,’ she explained

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For over three hours, the audience was presented with soulful renditions of various ragas such as Bhairav and Jog through the young voices of the participants accompanied by tabla players such as Bilal Khan and Suprobhat Bhattacharjee. It provided excellent exposure to young talents, giving them the scope to learn and assume confidence in their own ability

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‘We wholeheartedly try to promote Indian classical music in India and beyond,’ said Sanjoy Banerjee. He added: ‘Music contests help aspiring singers gain prominence. It was the same for us and will always be the same for other young talents.’ Suromurchhana was the first organisation of its kind to conduct online classical music festivals, which gained popularity during the Covid-19 lockdown. “We had online viewership from all across the world, including Brazil, Peru and Japan. During the pandemic, we also tried to incorporate baul singers from Kolkata into our events to promote baul music as well as help the performers financially,’ said Banerjee

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‘Evaluating the sur and suti of a raga are the key criteria on which we took our decision of the winning performance,’ said Pandit Shantanu Bhattacharyya. ‘The role of these musical competitions is manifold yet participants (featured) must remember that this isn’t the end, but just the start of their journeys. Their main motive should be to keep the spirit of music alive,’ observed Bidushi Ruchira Panda. “Every cloud has a silver lining. The lockdown did bring a lot of devastation, but it also enabled artists and musicians to hone their craft with more depth and time,’ noted Ustad Waseem Ahmed Khan