Mangalacharan, the charitable institution for supporting and promoting artists, organized Mangalacharan Sangeet Sammelan at Rabindra Sadan recently. It was an honest effort by Apurba and Indrani Mukherjee that set the pre-winter festive mood of Indian classical music in the city. The inaugural programme was a dance performance by Kumar Krishna Mukherjee — his 52nd journey through his dance academy, Paizore, was celebrated that day. Kumar Krishna and his students, including kids, gave an entertaining performance. They presented arati, which was a combination of Indian folk dance and Rabindranrittya.The focus was on folk dances from Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, dance of fisherman, Bauls, Santhals as well as Rabindranrittya.

It was followed by the sitar recital of Kushal Das (picture), who made a sweet and spontaneous beginning with Raga Bhimpalashree. His alaap was careful and charming. After a compact jod and jhala, he shifted to the gat. The vistaars in the middle and lower octaves had some bright sparks as well as an attractive taankari. But he could have shortened the duration to avoid some unnecessary flourishes. The appropriate accompaniment by Kumar Bose on tabla was enjoyable. The free flowing tabla solo by Ramdas Palsule, accompanied by Sanatan Goswami on harmonium, attracted the audience.

Shantantu Bhatthacharya, a sincere follower of Patiala Gharana, made an enchanting vocal recital with Raga Poorvi, appropriately accompanied by Jyoti Goho on harmonium and Samar Saha on tabla. Shantanu’s rendition had a perfect blend of depth and melody which came out through the vistaars in the lower and middle octaves in the vilambit kheyal. His taans in vilambit were enjoyable too. But in drut kheyal he needed more energy and emotion for the proper mood to flourish. He concluded with a khamaj thumri.

The other vocalist, Indrani Mukherjee, tried her best to capture the jovial mood of Raga Shudh Kalyan. Indrani’s voice has a beautiful range. The sweet and smooth movement of notes in the middle and upper octaves was appreciable. But she should have used more intricacies to leave an impression on the audience’s mind. Some portions of her vilambit kheyal were praiseworthy. But her vistaars and taans could have been more attractive with some variations. She sang a bhajan too. Apurba Mukherjee and Jyoti Goho were perfect in the tabla and harmonium accompaniment.

The final performance of the evening was the sarod recital by Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and his son, Indrayudh, who made his debut performance accompanied by the tabla of Bickram Ghosh. The alaap in Raga Behag was quite interesting, which created an expectation. But the continuation, with lack of variety, little deviations and a prolonged gatkari created obstacles in the unfurling of the true essence of the raga.