Violinist Chintamani Rath performs at Utkal Ashram mandap in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Aug. 3: Music lovers of the Silk City were left spellbound by an enchanting rendition by acclaimed violinist Chintamani Rath on Sunday.

The violin recital organised by Jagrat Bharat, a youth organisation, and held at the historic Utkal Ashram here gave the city residents an opportunity to witness a music concert after a long time.

Starting off with raga Thuria, Rath moved on to a bilambit gat (leisure pace) in raga Durga and then played a Thumri in Misra Pilu.

He then touched the hearts of the audience by rendering a bhajan of Lord Jagannath by Bhakta Salabega and concluded with the tune of the national anthem.

“He played a number of ragas and the best part was his style that had some hints of western as well as Indian classical music,” said P. Ramakrishna Rao, who had turned up for the performance.

After the rendition, Rath also interacted with the audience.

“I selected these ragas because of the timing of the programme as these are played in the evening,” said Rath. Young exponent Kulamani Sahu of Bhubaneswar accompanied the violinist on tabla.

“I have learnt Indian as well as the western classical in violin and performed in many western and Indian classical orchestra,” said Rath who hails from Paralakhemundi and is the grandson of Gopabandhu Bidyabhushan, an enormously respected scholar. Gopabandhu was the court scholar and teacher of the King of Paralakhemundi.

At present, Rath is based in Tauranga (as a citizen of New Zealand), where he has set up a centre for Indian music and culture.

He opined that there should be more programmes on classical music on Oriya television channels to promote Odissi and other forms of classical music.

Rath would be performing during programmes at Rourkela, Calcutta and Cuttack later in the month.