Like every year, the Swami Vivekananda Music festival was celebrated by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Golpark with grace and grandeur. The inaugural sessions of Abhay Rustum Sopori's santoor with the tabla of Prodyut Mukherjee and pakhwaj of Rishi Shankar Upadhyay set the mood for the long musical day. This was enhanced by the vocal rendition of Raga Parameshwari by Samaresh Chowdhury, who was ably accompanied by Hiranmoy Mitra on the harmonium. Swapan Chowdhury's tabla added a new musical vibration to the atmosphere. The tandava performed by Sri Kalakrishna and troupe was a beautiful visual experience. Keeping intact the nuances of Bharatnatyam, they expressed the totality of the drama with great care.

The afternoon Carnatic performance was enjoyable. The flute of Krishna Prasad, the mridangam of N. Shankar, the violin of H.K. Narasimha Murthy and the ghatam of Somnath Roy created the reverberation of music with Hamsadhwani and Hindolam. The performance of Puriya Kalyan by Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and his son, Indrayudh, was also a treat. The tabla performance of Anindyo Chattopadhyay and his son, Anubrata, was a soulful tribute on the special occasion of Vivekananda's birthday. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia's Bhupali, beautifully accompanied by Shubhankar Banerjee on the tabla, augmented the sacred charm of the evening.

Vistaar's four-day-long music and dance conference was a treat for the Indian classical music circuit. The Senia Shahjahanpur ensemble was full of energy and spark. The vocal recital by Debasis Dey in Kedar was a different experience. Debanjan Bhattacharya's sarod performance in the Raga Hemant elevated the mood. Bandhan Adak carefully brought out the beauty of Bhimpalasree; the vocal recital of Saniya Patankar enhanced the ambience.

Joydeep Ghosh's sarod recital (Raga Kamod followed by Shyam Kalyan) and the sitar performance by Ashim Chowdhury (Bahar, followed by Tilak Kamod) caught the audience's attention as well. Fresh vocalists like Vedantika Mukherjee, Silanjana Datta, Subhashis Mukherjee and Debangshu Maji, Kathak presentations by Nayanika Ghosh and Debangshu Mandal, sarod and sitar recitals by Kalyan Mukherjee, Anjan Chatterjee, Shubho Chakraborty, Ayush Chakraborty, Akash Roy, and the tabla of Sandipan Bhattacharya evoked the fragrance of festivity.