The prolonged wait for a musical extravaganza in our city finally got over on January 22 with the 64th Dover Lane Music Conference. The opening performance was by Prabhati Mukherjee, who started with druts in Raga Malkauns. On the whole, the kheyal was unimpressive. She quickly moved on to thumri, dadra and ghazals, which are her forte, but even those were not very impressive. Mukherjee then sang a Bhojpuri geet, which was not quite appropriate.

Pushparaj Koshti's surbahar too could not impress with Raga Jog. The shaky mandrasaptak created a gloomy ambience and the accompanying pakhawaj by Udhav Shinde was so overpowering that at times it seemed to be a pakhawaj solo. Raga Bhinna Shadja towards the end somehow saved the performance. The evening brightened up with Kaushiki Chakraborty's kheyal in Raga Malkauns. The gamaks, boltaans and a Carnatic bandish were praiseworthy. The thumri in Mishra Pilu somehow failed to create the right ambience in spite of good singing, as she experimented with too many ragas.

Amaan Ali Khan started with Raga Jhinjhoti, which automatically raised the bar of the show with the build-up, taans and seamless transitions. The 91/2 matra drut was unusually well played. The sawal-jawab between sarod and tabla (Subhankar Banerjee) in Raga Kirwani was the perfect culmination of the performance.

The dawn broke with M. Venkatesh Kumar's performance in Raga Lalit. A fine blend of Gwalior and Kirana gharana enhanced this beautiful raga. After another kheyal in Raga Bhairav, he ended his performance with a bhajan in Raga Bhairavi.

Santoor is not suited for classical music as gamak and meend cannot be played on it. Essentially a folk instrument, it is used for creating different moods in films. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma's (picture, above) performance, in which he played Raga Maru Bihag and a dhun in Raga Pahadi and Hamsadhwani, was delightfully dulcet.

The vocal recital by Mukul Shivputra was so shaky that Raga Kaushi Kanada was almost unidentifiable. He also failed to bring out the essence of the thumri in Raga Mishra Pilu.

The violin quartet by N. Rajam, her daughter, Sangeeta Shankar, and granddaughters, Ragini and Nandini, was definitely a highlight of the show. The well-rounded vistaars in Raga Malkauns brought out the pathos of the raga. The composition in the Carnatic raga, Neelambari, was even better played. The famous bhajan, "Payo ji maine", and the Benarasi dadra were totally in sync.

The end of the second night was grand with a sitar recital by Shahid Parvez in Raga Gujari todi. Parvez set the stage on fire with his taans. The dhun in Bhairavi welcomed the dawn with open arms.

The third night started with a traditional alap by Shaukat Hussain Khan in Raga Jhinjhoti. After a long time, a pure alap was being rendered. He gifted the listeners with some authentic Agra gharana bandishes in different ragas and finally with a thumri in Raga Khamaj.

The sitar recital by Anupama Bhagwat started with Raga Bageshree. Although she made a shaky start, she picked up the mood of the raga in jod. The drut in Raga Durga and the hori dhun in Raga Mishra Gara brought out the sweetness of the respective ragas. Shubhada Paradkar's vocals started with Raga Kaushi Kanada. The performance continued with a drut in Raga Sohini, a tappa and a tarana in Khamaj. But all of them were out of pitch and her voice sounded strained.

The best was saved for the last. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (picture, top) started playing Raga Pilu, which brought out the melancholy of the last hour of the night. He welcomed the dawn with Raga Bhatiar, followed by a gat in the neighbouring raga, Anand Bhairav, on pancham sawari taal of 15 beats. He payed his homage to Tagore by playing his composition, " Ami tarei khuje berai". After a tarana in 91/2 beats, he played his signature dhun, which includes Raga Desh, Asavari, Hamsadhwani and his all-time-favourite, "Ekla chalo re" . The sawal-jawab between Anindo Chatterjee (tabla) and Fateh Singh Gangani (pakhawaj) added more power to the performance.

Night Four started with Sandipan Samajpati's vocal recital in Raga Puriya that sounded rich and mature. After a well sung short kheyal in Raga Hamir, he wrapped up with a Bengali thumri in Raga Bahar and with a composition by his guru, Manas Chakraborty.

Shashank Subramanyam's flute was a treat for Carnatic music lovers. The ragam-tanam-pallavi of Raga Hemavati was well presented in authentic Carnatic style. The next drut in Raga Hamsadhwani was a joyous one. He concluded with " Krishnani begani", which had a soothing effect on the listeners' hearts.

Manjiri Asnare Kelkar sang Raga Sampoorna Malkauns, which sounded monotonous because of the gayaki. However, the short kheyal in Raga Basant Bahar, the tappa in Raga Kafi and the bhajan were refreshing. The jugalbandi of Kushal Das (sitar) and Tejendra Narayan Majumdar (sarod) featured Raga Kaushi Kanada and Basant Mukhari.

It was dawn when Pandit Jasraj came to the stage with his disciples. The crisp voice did justice to the morning raga, Nat Bhairav. The famous bhajan, " Om namo Bhagwate", was followed by a drut in Gujari Todi that sounded holy with the proper support of backup vocals.