Chinton presented a melodious evening — A Rendezvous with a Raaga — at the G.D. Birla Sabhagar on March 31. The programme, as the name suggests, explored the various moods of Raga Bihag. To express the essence of this beautiful raga of bilawal thaat, an array of songs from Khayal, Rabindrasangeet, Nazrulgeeti, Ghazals and popular film music were chosen.

The programme began with the musical dialogue of Saunak Chattopadhyay and Rohini Roy Chaudhuri. Saunak started with a Khayal. His slow and peaceful elaboration of ni sa ga ma pa ni established the raagrup at the very beginning. This was followed by Tagore’s Brahmosangeet, “Ki bhoy abhaya dhame”. A training in Hindustani classical is an advantage for a Rabindrasangeet singer. At the same time, Tagore songs demand some amount of unlearning or reworking. Saunak did this job impressively. Rohini could have avoided repeating some lines in her tuneful rendition of “Sajani sajani radhuka lo”. Saunak’s “Kanha bhar bhar mare pichkari” together with Rohini’s “Dakhin hawa” created a joyous ambience.

The musical accompaniment deserves special mention. Rohini excelled in the song, “Tumi arupa swarupa saguna nirguna”. Srikanto Acharya and Indrani Sen joined the artists in the second half, lending a baithaki dimension to the presentation. Acharya began with “Sudhu jaoa asa” in his signature effortless style. Sen was in her elements in “Amar e nayane nayan rakhi”, a Nazrulgeeti based on maru bihag. “Tu janha janha chalega, mera saya saath hoga” — an unforgettable composition — was presented by Sen. Acharya and Sen’s duet presentation of “Biti na bitaye” enthralled the audience. Sandip Ghosh provided able support on the tabla and Debasish Saha played the keyboard brilliantly. The pro-gramme was compèred by Maitreyee.

Sangeet Darbar presented an evening of classical music in the memory of Late Krishna Chandra Banerjee at Sisir Mancha on April 7. The programme commenced with a sitar recital by Saptarshi Hazra of the Jaipur Senia gharana. The artist began with a detailed alap in poorvi and performed the raga in an appropriate manner. He played long glides during the performance. This was followed by paraj basant. After a short aochar and vilambit gat, drut gat, tora and jhala were presented in teental. He was accompanied on the tabla by Shankar Prasad Chowdhury.

Sugata Marjit began his vocal recital with Raga Shankara in vilambit ektal and then drut teental. “Ogo phool ekhoni jhore jeo na” in Nandkosh was a soulful rendition. He was accompanied by Aurobindo Bhattacharya on the tabla and Pradip Palit on the harmonium.