(Top) Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh and Pravin Godkhindi on 17th Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award festival at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 8: The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award festival started with a magical rendition by ghazal king Jagjit Singh and fusion based compositions of young flute player Pravin Godkhindi.

The first evening of the five-day music and dance festival dedicated to the legendary Odissi guru by his dance institute Srjan left the audience ecstatic.

Karnataka-based Pravin performed with the band members of his troupe Krishna. The flamboyant repertoire of the band started with a harmonious Hansadhwani.

Pravin’s performance cast a spell on the audience. He was accompanied by Umesh on keyboard, Padmanabh Kamat on octopad and younger brother Kiran Godkhindi on tabla.

Playing on the higher notes most of the time, the flute player was exuberant even though he was standing and performing.

The Waatapi Ganapati in teen taal played by the group immediately struck a chord with the audience.

Though Pravin’s music was not purely classical, the blend of Carnatic, jazz and folk elements with Hindustani classical reminded one of the compositions of music maestro Illaya Raja.

The performance of the band concluded with an interactive composition also titled Krishna that was based on raga Bhupali.

After every cycle of the rhythmic series in the composition, the musician asked the audience to join in by singing Krishna. The listeners, who were already lost in his enchanting performance, gladly obliged.

“It was a spectacular performance by the young flute player. He will surely go a long way with his talent and skills to win the audience,” said noted music director Shantanu Mohapatra, who was present among the audience.

After this enthralling performance was the turn of the ghazal maestro to regale the crowd with his timeless compositions. While this was the most awaited part of the concert, technical glitches played spoilsport for a while.

Nevertheless, the continued disruptions of the sound arrangements could not stop Singh from rendering soulful classics that his fans were looking forward to.

Accompanied by a talented group of artistes — especially Parasnath on flute, Deepak Pandit with the violin and Lalit Shankar on dholak — Singh went on to mesmerise the listeners with Hoshwalon ko khabar kya, Tere aane ki jab khabar mehki, Jhuki jhuki si nazar, Chaand bhi dekha, Kal Chaudvi ki raat thi, Woh kagaz ki kashti and many more.

With brief interludes of jokes and interaction with the audience, Singh held the crowd for almost three hours. The viewers joined him on Hoton se choolon tum and Tumko dekha toh. The septuagenarian exponent even obliged his fans with his autograph after the show that had continued till midnight.

“We are immensely delighted to see the passion of music lovers who gathered here from different parts of the state and outside to witness the 17th edition of our festival,” said Odissi guru Ratikant Mohapatra, organiser of the festival.