Paramparik organised its annual programme at G.D. Birla Sabhaghar to celebrate two decades in the field of Indian classical music under the supervision of Ruchira Panda, a sincere follower of the Kotali Gharana. The event began with a vocal recital by Anjana Nath, who presented Raga Shudh Sarang. She alsosang a thumri based on Mishra Kafi. Shewas supported by Hindole Majumder on the tabla and Gourab Chattopadhyay on the harmonium. The solo tabla presentation bythe veteran artist, Sanjoy Mukherjee, was a soulful experience. He chose to play teentaal and showcased its varied range. Hiranmoy Mitra assisted him beautifully on the harmonium.

The Akkarai sisters — Akkarai Subha­lakshmi and Akkarai Sornalatha (picture, left) — enchanted the audience with their violin recital. They commenced with a varnam followed by a main recital in Purvi Kalyani. The raga was embellished with alaap, taankari and vinyas. The coordination between the artists was mesmerising. They continued with a ragamalika and concluded with a brief taani avartanam. R. San­karanarayanan on the mridangam and Krishna on the ghatam enhanced the quality of their performance. The sisters concluded with a composition based on Raga Sindhu Bhairavi.

The vocalist, Sanjay Banerjee, rendered a Behag and sang a bhajan in Mishra Kir­wa­ni. Rupak Bhattacharjee and Anirban Chakraborty accompanied him on the tab­la and the harmonium, respectively. The final performance was a sarod rendition by Prattyush Banerjee. He started with an alaap and a jor in Nayaki Kanada, moving on to the gats. The stylised movements of the keynotes brought out the essence and the depth of the raga. His brief rendition of Jhinjhoti was entertaining as well. He concluded with a dhun which, along with Bickram Ghosh’s spontaneous accompaniment, made for a perfect conclusion to the musical evening.

The Dhwani Academy of Percussion Music organised its annual music festival at Uttam Mancha. The two-day festival was inaugurated with a tabla performance by visually-challenged students. The winner of the Jnanprakash Ghosh Memorial Tabla Competition, Mayukh Bandyopadhyay, also performed a solo recital in teentaal. The sitar and sarod duet by Indrajit and Sougato Roy Chowdhury, accompanied by Debashish Singha Roy, began with alaap, jor and jhala in Raga Bhimpalasree, followed by two more spontaneous compositions. Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra (picture, right) enthralled the audience with their well-coordinated and expert vocal rendition in Raga Shree; the compositions were set to jhamptaal and ektaal (composed by Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra). They finished off with an arresting piece in Raga Basant. Ujjwal Bharati on the tabla and Hiranmoy Mitra on the harmonium added to the musicality of the duo’s performance.

The flautist, Rupak Kulkarni, and the violinist, Mysore Manjunath, chose to play Raga Kirwani, opting for an alaap, jor and jhala followed by the gats. The expertise of Manjunath combined with Kulkarni’s melodiousness to create an enjoyable atmosphere. The exquisite talbadya presentation by Abhijit Banerjee on the tabla and Somnath Roy on the ghatam included a taani avartanam and a Bhairavi composition set to a pacy teentaal. The innovative jhamptaal on the tabla by Dipin Das A.D., a disciple of Abhijit Banerjee, was entertaining as well. The vocal and sitar duet by Debapriya and Samanwaya in Raga Hindol, as well as the compositions in Bahar and Mishra Charukeshi, was a success too. The festival ended with a sreekhol and tabla performance by Gopal and Madhu Barman, respectively.