Singer Ananya perfroms a Geeta Govinda poem and (below) vocalist Adyasha Das performs at the concert dedicated to Raghunath Panigrahi at Rabindra Mandap in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: Young and old members of the city’s music fraternity remembered Odissi music stalwart Raghunath Panigrahi by singing some of his most popular compositions.

The concert hosted by the Bhubaneswar Music Circle on Sunday saw renditions of Panigrahi’s timeless compositions from the Geeta Govinda.

Prominent singers such as Sangita Gosain, Mitali Chinara, Sourav Nayak and Adyasha Das brought the maestro’s compositions alive, especially through the Geeta Govinda Ashtapadis.

“The abundance of Odissi compositions would not have been possible without him. He was a genius, but never pursued fame. If he had, he would have gone far beyond anyone in the state, so rich was his talent,” said Gosain. He said Panigrahi, better known as the king of melodies or ‘Suramani’, was a humble, simple man and extremely compassionate.

Elder son of the revered musician, singer Parthasarathy Panigrahi, also performed a few celebrated solos of his father and co-ordinated the music throughout the show.

Among the younger lot of singers, Abhijit Mishra, Bandish Palit, Ranadeep Palit and Aryan Rautray impressed the audience with their vocal skills. But it was the junior-most singers who left the audience spellbound. School students Rohan Biswal and Sanchita Subhdarshini displayed great control over their voice and the ease with which they preformed intricate notes was impressive. Class IX student Ananya Sritam Nanda was the highlight of the show with her brilliant rendition of the emotions in ‘Yahi Madhava’ from the Geeta Govinda. Her effortless presentation and style as well as grasp over classical music at such a young age earned her loud rounds of applause.

“All the schoolkids are followers of the late maestro and despite having exams on Monday at school, they came here to show their devotion towards the legendary musician,” said Khirod Patnaik, general secretary of the Bhubaneswar Music Circle.

“He was anointed Gitagobinda Panigrahi, and that was how he was addressed by many, including Prithviraj Kapoor. He will always be missed and thus we dedicated our monthly programme to the great composer and vocalist,” he said.

A documentary on Panigrahi’s life was also screened as part of the programme. Later, a music CD of his devotional compositions was released.

Eminent personalities were present among the audience including authors Ramakanta Rath, Sitakant Mahapatra, Pratibha Ray and musicians Prafulla Kar, Pranab Patnaik, Pandit Banamali Moharana and Harmohan Khuntia.