The five-day Indian classical music festival organized by the Rajya Sangeet Academy at Rabindra Sadan became a prelude to spring in the city. This year, the programme emphasized the generational nature of classical music — this idea was reflected in most of the sessions in which several generations of the same family performed together. The festival was inaugurated with a basant bandana by the scholars of the West Bengal State Music Academy, followed by a melodious shehnai performance by Hassan Haider Khan in Multani. Amrita Sarkhel’s vocal and Shubhayu Sen Majumdar’s efficiency on the esraj created an enjoyable ambience. A group performance, “Bandish Bahar”, led by Tanmoy Bose, with Shankar Narayana Swami on the mridangam, K.G. Prasad on the ghatam and kanjira, Nirmalya Roy on vocals, Ayan Sengupta on the sitar and Sarwar Hussain on the sarengi playing important roles, started with Malkauns and moved on to a tillana that had a vibrant resonance.
An arresting Behag by the vocalist, Roushni Sarkar, was followed by the father-son duo, Subhankar and Archik Banerjee, on the tabla. They created entertaining vibes with compositions in teentaal. Sura Ranjan Mukherjee played Puriya Kalyan on the sarod. Kushal Das and Kalyanjit Das, another father-son pair, played Shuddha Vasant on the sitar. The intricate style of Kushal evoked the sweetness of spring with Sandip Ghosh on the tabla. Manali Bose sang vilambit and drut kheyals in Marwa followed by Harashankar and Deepshankar Bhattacharjee’s sitar recital of Raga Chhayanat. The Raga Puriya Kalyan rendition by the vocalist, Tushar Dutta, with Soumen Nandy on the tabla left a deep mark. Debashish Bhattacharya and his daughter, Debasmita, played Kausi Kanada on the sarod, giving them scope for much flourish. Gargi Samaddar presented Shudha Kalyan in her vocal recital, which was followed by a melodious sarod performance by Abhisek Lahiri in Raga Purvi with Arup Chattopadhyay on the tabla.
Rajyasree Ghosh was disappointing in her vocal rendition of Chhayanat. Debapriya Adhikari on vocals and Samanwaya Sarkar on the sitar commenced with Kedar and although their beginning was charming, the performance could have been more compact. The combination of santoor and slide guitar by Tarun and Debashish Bhattacharya with Sabir Khan on the tabla was interesting; it commenced with Raga Bageshree and had both flourish and a soulful essence. But it could have been shortened to sustain the charm. Sanchita Chowdhury’s vocal rendition of Dhrupad flowed with effortless ease in Raga Puriya and Raga Sohini, although a little more depth was expected from her. Niladri Nath’s rendition in Puriya Dhanesree was followed by the sitar and sarod combination of Soumyajit Pal and Manit Pal in Raga Shudh Vasant.
Omkar Dadarkar. Shilpi Sambhamurthy
The vocal rendition in Chhayanat by Omkar Dadarkar (picture, left) changed the ambience completely; the melodious mood was further enhanced by an attractive and compact presentation of Vasant. The finale featured yet another father-son duo, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and Indrayudh Majumdar. Indrayudh’s performance of Behag at the beginning was sweet along with Bickram Ghosh on the tabla, while his father showed his usual flair and expertise in Bageshree Kanada. The duo continued with Zila Kafi, an enchanting performance that brought down the curtains on the festival. The accompaniment on the tabla by Ashoke Mukherjee, Parimal Chakraborty, Indranil Mallik, on the pakhawaj by Nisant Singh and on the harmonium by Rupasree Bhattacharya, Gourab Chatterjee and others made this on ground musical event — albeit with a restricted audience given the pandemic — a success.
Another physical event, Music for Harmony, was presented by the NADD Foundation at the Daga Nikunj along with the Alka Jalan Foundation. The programme started with a vocal recital by Malyaban Chatterjee in Maru Behag and was followed by a hori thumri with perfect support on the tabla by Sujit Saha and on the harmonium by Kamalaksha Mukherjee. The musicality of the ambience was upheld by the sarod and sitar combination of Manoj and Mor Mukut Kedia (picture, right) in Raga Chandranandan. The beauty of the raga and recital were well supported by Durjay Bhaumik on the tabla.
