Calcutta: Ragas will reverberate at the Behala Classical Festival, in association with The Telegraph, for four days from January 6.

The festival, in its sixth year, will open with Shahid Parvez Khan on the sitar at 6pm on Saturday. The concluding performance on January 9 will be by Amjad Ali Khan on the sarod and Deborshee Bhattacharjee (vocal).

Other artistes scheduled to perform at the festival include Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), Venkatesh Kumar (vocal), Jayanthi Kumaresh (veena) and N. Rajam (violin).

The classical music festival was started in 2013 by 14 Durga puja organisers in the Behala area, including Barisha Club, Behala Nutan Dal, Behala Club and Jubak Brinda.

"The organisers of several pujas in the area had an ear for classical music. But to get the top names to perform would require a lot of money. We realised that none of the puja committees could pull off such an event on its own. That's when we decided to come together," said Sandipan Banerjee of Behala Nutan Dal.

The puja organisers started raising money for the concert under the banner of Behala Sanskritik Sammilani.

"In the first year, we could bring just one artiste from outside the city, Hariprasad Chaurasia. But we have come a long way since. This year, we have only one artiste, vocalist Deborshee Bhattacharjee, from Calcutta. The rest are from other cities like Delhi and Mumbai," said Banerjee, who is also the general secretary of Behala Sanskritik Sammilani.

The venue for the concert is the Calcutta Blind School ground in Behala.

With the concert having gained in popularity, the organisers started putting up a giant screen on the ground since last year. "Not everybody can be accommodated in chairs. The screen is put up for those who sit on the ground," said an organiser.

It is a no-profit initiative and entry to the concert is free.