The young artistes at the musical event in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Jan. 20: Strumming guitars and playing soulful tunes on keyboards, over 30 young musicians paid respect to veteran instrumentalist Md Mubarak at a musical evening at a hotel in Dolamundai.

The Muzik Institute of Mubarak (MIM) hosted the function here yesterday.

The 20 keyboard players and 10 guitarists presented a series of group recitals in the first segment of the show beginning with an invocatory piece Jai Ganesh deva dedicated to Lord Ganesh. Soon the young musicians blended the rhythms of guitar and keyboard to present the celebrated compositions such as Good, Bad and Ugly of the legendary Ennio Morricone and The Great Escape by Elmer Bernstein.

Disciples of Md Mubarak at MIM, the youth, under his guidance, presented an instrumental The Arabian Caravan composed by their guru that took the listeners off to a ride across the deserts under the scorching Arabian Sun. School and college students also performed solo during the second segment. From Hindi film songs such as Pukarta chala hoon main, Arrey re arrey to celebrated Odia tracks, as well as traditional music and even English songs, the solo recitals won the applause of the 200-odd listeners.

The highlight of the evening was performance by 20-year-old Sumit. The youngster presented a song that he had penned, composed and sung — a touching reminder of the ill-treatment towards women in today’s society. He received a standing ovation and the audience was eager for more. Host Suleiman Diwana’s shayaris and one-liners left the audience in splits.

Awards for a competition held among the budding artistes were also presented on the occasion. Sunil Ram and Vishal Samantaray won the first prize in senior segment for guitar and keyboard, respectively, while Arnab Rout, Sanjog Das and Sambit Sitikantha emerged on the top of the sub-junior and junior categories. The performances concluded with the instrumental rendition of Bande Utkal Janani.

“The young musicians performed with great confidence,” said Satyajit Mohanty, chairman-cum-managing director of Odisha State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation Limited.

“Mubarak has dedicated his entire life to music and performed as an accompanist with great names such as S. Janaki, P. Sushila, Talat Mohammad, Manna Da and so on. But it is amazing that he is so humble,” said MIM managing director Majid Khan. “He was a close friend of Khoka bhai (Akshay Mohanty). In more than 40 years of music, he has created many rock band musicians and more,” said Md Jamal Afsar, one of the organisers.