An evening of Indian classical music organized by Bhawanipur Sangeet Sammilani was like a breath of fresh air. The programme commenced with K. Bhuvaneswari’s violin recital, which was the debut concert of the artist from Bhubaneswar in Calcutta. She is an expert in both Hindustani and Carnatic styles and brought an uncommon flavour to the performance. Her first presentation was Raga Gorakh Kalyan and she played a madhyalay teentaal gat after an aochaar. Although the rapid shifts in the manner were a little confusing, she was able to attract the audience with a smooth blend of North Indian and South Indian techniques. Her efforts at presenting the taans were praiseworthy. She concluded with a brief presentation of Yaman gat in Rupak taal. She was perfectly accompanied by Ujjwal Bharati on tabla. 

Bhuvaneswari’s performance was followed by the vocal recital of Parna Chattopadhyay. She started with a vilambit kheyal in Raga Yog. She rendered the raga carefully and presented the vistaars while applying the movements of the keynotes. The kheyal in drut teentaal was effortless and enjoyable. She was accompanied by Gopal Mishra on tabla and Debashish Adhikary on harmonium. She sang Raga Megh at the end of her performance.

The flute duet of Sudip Chattopadhyay and Deepankar Roy (picture) was praiseworthy. The commencement of the performance with Raga Jhinjhoti after an aochaar enchanted the audience. The coordination of the artists on stage was quite good — this showed in the way they played. The gat in Rupak taal as well as the drut teentaal were interesting, especially their efforts at presenting various types of taans in three octaves. They concluded the programme with a rare dhun of Purab ang in Kaharwa. They were ably accompanied by Soumen Nandy on tabla.

Seni Sangeet Sabha celebrated its 12th year at Old Ahiritola Thakurbari. The soirée started with a dhrupad recital by Satinath Bhattacharya. His voice was appropriate for dhrupad and he tried to maintain all the nuances of a traditional dhrupad presentation. He sang ragas like Behaag, Megh and Adana in chowtaal and dhamaar in Raga Kedar following the regular structures. The performance was entertaining with alaap and baat. He was accompanied by Swarup Kumar Ghosal on pakhwaj. Young Soumya Karmakar gave a soulful performance in Raga Durga with an aochaar and teentaal gat. Mohan Chakraborty accompanied him on tabla.