S warDarbar organised its annual programme at Rabindra Sadan recently. Itfeatured both veterans and newcomers of Indian classical music. The musical evening began with a vocal recital by Susmita Chakraborty, who presented Raga Madhuvanti. Her performance was organised, arresting and full of clarity. In both the madhyalay and drut teentaal kheyal, she was able to bring outthe charm of the melodious raga perfectly. Chakraborty was assisted by Abhijit Kastho on the tabla and Sayan Chatterjee on the harmonium. The sarod recital by Indrayuddh Majumder (picture, left) was pleasing. He chose Raga Bhimpalasi for his rendition, highlighting its sweetness and beauty with able supportfrom Sandip Ghosh on the tabla.
Sandip Bhattacharjee’s vocal presentation in Puriya Dhanashree added to the ambience.It was an elaborate rendition consisting of vilambit ektaal, drut teentaal as well as drut ektaal kheyals. The artist expressed the essence and the nuances of the raga through his style and variety. The performance became more enjoyable owing to Mallar Goswami on the tabla, Dilip Biswas on the harmonium, and Sarwar Hussain on the sarangi.
Santosh Sant enchanted the audience with his flute by opting for the uncommon Raga Haripriya. The first composition, setto nine beats, was evocative;this was followed by a teentaal. The artist was supported on the tabla by Rupak Bhattacharjee and also assisted by Vishal and Utkarsh. The vocal recital by Mashkoor Ali Khan in Raga Kalawati was enlivening. The artist could bring out the intricacies and the depth of the raga with his expertise. In both the vilambit ektaal and drut teentaal kheyals, he tried to express the various dimensions of the raga. The senior artist, Samar Saha, accompanied Khan on the tabla and Gourav Chatterjee was on the harmonium. SwarDarbar also felicitated veteran artists like Mashkoor Ali Khan, Ajoy Chakraborty and Jyoti Goho, among others.
Y atrapath Cultural Society organised its annual music festival at Mohit Moitra Mancha. The programme was inaugurated by felicitating the tabla exponents, Swapan Chowdhury and Gobinda Basu. The evening commenced with a group instrumental performance by the students of the Society;they rendered a Kaushik Dhwani beautifully and were supported by Shiladitya Mukherjee on the tabla. This was followed by a presentation called “Brahmavihar”, a narrative collaboration supervised by Abhirup Ghosh. Ghosh was also enchanting in his sitar recital in Raga Charukauns along with Apurbo Banerjee on the sarod (picture, right). Since the programme was dedicated to Pandit Ravi Shankar,the artists mostly played ragas created by the maestro. The duet enhanced the mellifluousness of the evening. Unmesh Banerjee accompanied them on the tabla. The artists wrapped up their presentation with a Khamaj.
The sitarist, Mita Nag, and the sarod player, Sougato Roy Chowdhury, mesmerised the audience with their rendition of Raga Hemant. The soul of the raga was wonderfully expressed. The performance was attractive owing to the smoothness and the expertise of the two artists in the two backto-back compositions. Pinaki Chakraborty ably assisted the artists on the tabla.
The final performance was another duet on the sarod and the sitar by Partha Sarathy and Sushant Chowdhury. The touching rendition of Raga Yogeshwari with Swapan Chowdhury on the tabla was the perfect conclusion to the event. Soumyaditya Mukherjee compered the whole programme perfectly.
