The centenary of A. Kanan was celebrated on the virtual platform of Indian classical music by Kalakar Arts UK under the supervision of Chandra Chakraborty, a sincere disciple of Kanan. She has taken the initiative to organize various virtual programmes since April instead of the live programme in the United Kingdom owing to the Covid-19 situation. Almost every week, interactive sessions and performances have taken place with artists like Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, Rashid Khan, Manasi Majumdar, Shubhankar Banerjee, Tanmoy Bose, Murad Ali Khan and many more performers paying a tribute to the stalwart. These sessions portrayed the many shades of a creative mind and the varied aspects of the teacher-student relationship.
A three-day musical celebration began with Mashkoor Ali Khan and the young talent, Arshad Ali Khan. The session commenced with Raga Darbari and then a few other rare compositions in the 15-beat cycle were presented. This was followed by Raga Hamir Bilawal and then Arshad presented a drut kheyal in Gaud Malhar. Mashkoor Ali Khan continued with more rare ragas and compositions in Jaijaivanti (“Maan na karo”), Malkauns Bahar (composed by Rahim Baksh, “Boli basant”), Bageshree Bahar (“E ri taan”) and Khamaj Bahar (“Dare dare baat baat fule, ritu ayi basant”). Arshad took over the thread and performed Raga Adana. He showed good command over the key movements, which were well expressed in his rendition. The session concluded with a charming Puriya composition, “Mori araja suno daata” and a tarana in Marwa. The audience enjoyed the tuneful atmosphere and the interaction was enriching.
Kalakar’s session also featured Subhra Guha who started with Raga Jog, in a teentaal drut bandish composed by Ustad Vilayat Husain Khan (“Pran piya”), “Ghari pala china kachuna suhave”. She embellished her performance with Raga Barwa, a composition by Ustad Faiyaz Khan, “Baje mori payeliya” followed by Raga Megh. The artist also presented “Badarwa barsan ko aye” in Malhar. The session continued with Raga Sohini and was concluded with the famous Dadra, “Ghiri ghiri aye, kari badaria”.
The final concert started with a performance by Debasish Bhattacharya who presented Raga Charukeshi on his Pushpaveena and performed various compositions in teentaal, ektaal and jhaptaal, and also played dhuns. The soulful rendition was pleasing for viewers. After an interactive session with Kumar Bose, the finale was graced by the sitar maestro, Shahid Parvez. He gave an exquisite performance of Tilak Kamod and his alaap changed the ambience completely. His unique style brought out the inner beauty of the raga.
But the story did not end there. Kalakar Arts UK has already planned a series on Guru-Shishya Parampara, sessions will showcase the presentations of senior vocalists, Amiyaranjan Bandyopadhyay, Rupak Kulkarni (flute), Debajyoti Bose (sarod), Omkar Dadarkar (vocal recital) as well as Rimpa Shiv (tabla).
