Paramparik celebrated its 20th anniversary at G.D. Birla Sabhagar recently. The soulful ambience at the event was a perfect setting to enjoy the strains of Indian classical music. The programme was inaugurated with a solo Kathak performance by Saberi Misra. She commenced with Vishnu vandana and went on to a teentaal that remained faithful to the attributes of the Jaipur gharana. She demonstrated the nuances of her chosen taal — the thaat, bol and parans — followed by a madhyalaya dharamar. Her choreography clearly demonstrated her mastery over the form. The energy with which she sang and danced at the same time was enthralling. She was efficiently assisted by Subir Thakur on the tabla and Chandrachur Bhattacharya on the sitar.

Basant Kabra chose Raga Multani for his sarod recital. The afternoon raga was melodious and smooth in the alaap, jor, jhala and gats. Kabra concluded with a Zila Kafi, along with Parimal Chakraborty on the tabla. The vocalist, Omkar Dadarkar, began with Raga Chhayanat, pouring his honeyed voice into the vilambit and drut kheyals as well as the tarana. His Raga Sahana Kanada was spectacular and he ended with a bhajan. He got perfect accompaniment on the tabla from Bibhas Sanghai and from Gourab Chatterjee on the harmonium. The evening came to an end with a beautiful rudraveena rendition by Bahauddin Dagar (picture, left). The alaap in Puriya Kalyan was engrossing and was followed by a chowtaal gat. He concluded with a melodious Raga Abhogi, which could have been extended a little.

Begum Parveen Sultana Shilpi Sambhamurthy

Sangeet Piyasi’s annual music conference at Daga Nikunj went on for four evenings. The festival opened with a vocal recital by Shubhra Guha, with Subhajyoti Guha on the tabla and Rupashree Bhattacharya on the harmonium. Shubhra Guha’s choices for the evening were Raga Gauri and Manjh Khamajh. Ja­yanta Bose on the harmonium and Bickram Ghosh on the tabla started with Raga Mahua Kalyan and went on to Puriya Kalyan in madhu malati (16 beats). Senior artists like Sujata Mohapatra entertained the audience with elegance and poise. After the traditional mangalacharan, she performed compositions, such as Rama stuti in Raga Megh and a Kedar set to chaturasra ektali, by her guru, Kelucharan Mohapatra.

The sitarist, Partha Bose, played Raga Shree and Raga Patdeep with Sanjay Mukherjee on the tabla. Falguni Mitra presented a Dhrupad in Shyam Kalyan with Tapas Das on the pakhawaj, Pradip Palit on the harmonium and Roshan Ali on the sarangi. The solo tabla recital by Swapan Chowdhuri with able support from Hiranmay Mitra on the harmonium made for a thoroughly enjoyable session. Chowdhuri selected a teentaal and continued with other charismatic compositions. The vocalist, Ambarish Das, and the percussionist, Debojyoti Bose, performed Raga Shree. This was followed by Debashish Bhattacharya on the sarod in Raga Chhaya and Raga Desh with Arup Chattopadhyay on the tabla.

The senior vocalist, Parveen Sultana

(picture, right), excelled in Raga Yaman and was touching in both the vilambit and drut kheyals. She also enchanted her listeners with a dadra and a Kabir bhajan, including the famous “Bhavani dayani”. Abhijit Banerjee and Jyoti Goho accompanied her perfectly on the tabla and the harmonium, respectively.

The last day of the festival showcased young talent. It was inaugurated with a Saraswati vandana followed by performances by Sreeja Haldar (vocal), Rajdeep Deb (tabla), Shreyan Sarkar (vocal), Samarpriyo Goswami (srikhol), Shreyan Samanta (vocal), Swarang Gajanan Ketkar (tabla), Nilay Shubhra Bhat­tacharya (vocal) and Nabagata Bhatt­acharjee (vocal). The enjoyable ensemble was conducted by Debashis Bhattacharya. There was also a Kathak recital by Ridhima Dutta and her group.