Grammy-winning classical musician Vishwa Mohan Bhatt will play the Mohan veena at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium on Sunday. His performance will be the final act of this year’s Salt Lake Music Festival. 

The festival is organised by Salt Lake Cultural Association (SLCA) and is now in its 30th edition it is being held in association with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Infosys Foundation, Bangaluru. The festival was inaugurated on Tuesday and concerts will continue till Sunday from 5pm. 

This year's festival is being held in memory of singer Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan and tabla player Pandit Shankar Ghosh, both of whom passed away in 2016. Former head of Prasar Bharati Jawhar Sircar, Justice Soumen Sen and tabla player Pandit Sankha Chatterjee had come to inaugurate the festival. 

“We need to involve more youngsters to take our tradition of music forward,” said Sircar. “Most musicians from Bengal are now going elsewhere to learn different classical forms.” 

Justice Sen felt teachers have a responsibility to arouse interest in students and to prepare them for what it takes. “We need to think of ways to involve the new generation,” he said. 

Wednesday saw a performance by percussionist Bickram Ghosh, who is also Pandit Shankar Ghosh’s son. “I have known Sujit kaku (Sujit Bhattacharya, founder and mentor of SLCA) since my childhood as he was my father’s friend. So when I learnt that they were organising this event in my father’s memory, I knew I had to perform,” he said. 

Ghosh said his father would be his greatest critic. “He was a strict teacher and made sure that I practised regularly. He never promoted me in my initial days and I was in my 30s when I performed with him for the first time. It was an honour,” said Ghosh. 

“These days,” he added, “the audience’s attention span has reduced. Just like people had shifted from watching Test matches to T-20, four hour musical performances have shrunk to one-and-a-half hours.”

The audience at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan enjoyed the show. “I have been a member of SLCA for 16 years now. They organise wonderful shows but sadly not enough people understand classical music and so not many come,” said Gayatri Chanda, a BC Block resident. 

Bhattacharya recalled how his association has been featuring young talent down the ages. “Years ago, we gave platforms to upcoming musicians like Rashid Khan, Purbayan Chatterjee and Amaan Ali Khan. We are delighted to see them established today.”

Have you attended any concert of Salt Lake Music Festival?
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