Jhulanbari, the house of Ramkanai Adhicary in north Calcutta, celebrated jhulan yatra (associated with Krishna and Radha) with a five-day festival of Indian classical music in the age-old fashion. It commenced with a sarod recital by Debanjan Bhattacharya. He played alaap, jod and jhala as well as gats in Puriya Kalyan and used pakhwaj at the beginning. The trend of using pakhwaj while playing jor and jhala makes listeners feel confused at times and brings up the question of necessity. The style of playing was not extraordinary, but Bhattacharya made an honest effort.

The conclusion with a Miyan ki Malhar gat was better. The vocal recital by young talent, Kumar Mardur, made the evening enjoyable. He has a sweet, fresh and powerful voice. The kheyal rendition in Kedar, the way of vistaars and taans expressed his originality and spontaneity. Kedar was followed by a compact presentation of Yogkosh. He concluded his part with bhajans. Jyoti Goho accompanied him on harmonium.

The sitar rendition by Reena Srivastava the following evening was sweet and smooth although it was difficult to distinguish the different moods of the ragas. She commenced with alaap, jor and jhala in Megh followed by gats. The music flowed in a cyclical manner as the raga has a short span. She continued with Kafi and the second composition was soulful. She also played the dhun of kirtan. The combination of classical guitar by Ratan Bharati and violin by Saket Sahu was a little unusual but had a different charm. They tried to make their coordination well balanced. Most of the time, it worked. Sahu's style was effortless.

Behaag was their first presentation. Both of them were innovative in the vistaars and taans. Bharati tried his best in the gats. The aochar in Desh was good but it became scattered because of unnecessary complications. The artists on the first four evenings were ably accompanied by Biplab Bhattacharya on tabla.

The presentation of Carnatic music in the finale was the first ever performance of South Indian music in the history of Jhulanbari. Latha Karthikeyan (picture) won the hearts of listeners with her Saraswati veena rendition. She played the famous Ganapati kriti of Muthuswami Dikhsitar, "Vatapi Ganapathim", in Raga Hamsadhwani in adi tala, followed by another kriti on Lord Krishna in Raga Hamsanandi. Her expertise in going to the depths of the composition with the intricacies of the raga attracted the audience. She played " Govardhan Girisham" in Raga Hindolam. Although her presentation was brief, she was able to bring out the traits of ragam and tanam.

She also played a composition in Raga Tilang and concluded with a tillana in Raga Dhanashree. S. Venkatraman accompanied him on mridangam.

The music festival came to an end with the performance of Madhumita Chattopadhyay, who presented thumri, dadra, kajri and different types of jhulas. She was accompanied by Ashoke Mukherjee on tabla and Pradip Palit on harmonium.