Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani organised its annual programme, Guru Pranaam 2024 (picture, left), at Uttam Mancha recently. The evening commenced with “Aalo”, a unique collage of the ragas, Bhatiyar and Marwa, set to surfaktaal and sooltaal, followed by audio clips of Raga Puriya Dhanashree by Prasun Banerjee and Raga Darbari Kanada by Meera Banerjee. In “Swar”, a symphony set to teentaal, the students of Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani sang Raga Yamankalyan with pupils from the Taalsen Music Academy on the tabla accompanying them. A multi-faceted ensemble based on the ragas, Bilawal, Khamaj and Tilang, set to jhamptaal, ektaal and teentaal, was then performed by the students of Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani. This was followed by an entertaining “Swarakriti”, a homogeneous blend of Raga Bilawal and Raga Kalyan in teentaal. The students also presented Raga Bhupali and “Swaraasan” as well as a performance in Raga Bilawal, Raga Yaman, and the rare Raga Sohini Bahar. Tapasya, Soham and Mitra were the vocalists, with Anchit on the tabla and Subhasree on the harmonium.

A fascinating kheyal duet came next where Nibedita Banerjee and Durba Bhattacharyya sang exquisite compositions in the ragas, Bairagi and Lalit. Nibedita concluded with a Bhairavi thumri by Meera Banerjee set to rupaktaal with Tanmoy Bhattacharya and Hrishav Sarkar on the tabla. Tanmoy Bose delivered an entertaining recital that centred around teentaal with Hiranmay Mitra on the harmonium. Mor Mukut and Manoj Kedia, the sitar and sarod duo, played “Chandranandan” and were accompanied by Subhajyoti Guha on the tabla. The vocalist, Shantanu Bhattacharyya, offered a tribute to the masters through Raga Miyan ki Malhar. He sang three compositions by Prasun Banerjee and a tarana composed by Meera Banerjee. He was supported by Tanmoy Bose on the tabla and Hiranmay Mitra on the Harmonium.

The concluding session of Guru Pranaam 2024 was a special presentation by the senior scholars, Mitra, Soham, Tapasya, Tanuman, Debayan, Chandra on vocals, along with Swarnendu on the sarod, Soumyajit on the sitar, Sudhir and Anchit on the tabla, Ritwik on the Spanish guitar and Siddhajit on the slide guitar. They regaled the audience with songs in many languages set to the ragas, Lalit, Bhairav, Alhaiya, Jaunpuri, Todi, Shudh Sarang, Bhimpalasi, Shree, Yaman, Bageshri, Miyan ki Malhar and Bhairavi, and created an uplifting ambience.

Guru Pranaam 2024 by Aalor Pathe Raga Dhwani

Acharya Bhagwan Das Sitari Memorial organised a one-day-long musical event at the Ghosh bari Durga dalan. The event commenced with the five-year-old Janhavi Sarkar on the tabla and it continued with a tabla ensemble by artists of the same age group. The young talent, Arjun Roy, sang Raga Alhaiya Bilawal followed by Raga Miyan ki Todi with Rupam Ghosh on the tabla. Prajna Parijat Haldar performed a kheyal in Raga Charukeshi and Siddhajit Mandal presented Raga Jaunpuri on the guitar. The veteran artist, Jyoti Goho, showed his skills in his rendition of Raga Shudh Sarang and a thumri in Raga Tilak Kamod.

Sanjay Adhikari and his senior students performed on the tabla, creating variations of beats and rhythm and bringing out the intricacies of the instrument. Sahana Ali Khan chose Raga Multani for her vocal rendition with Bilal Khan Saloni on the tabla and Dwaipayan Roy on the harmonium. Brajeshwar Mukherjee set the right mood through his rendition of Raga Shree and Raga Manjh Khamajh. Rupasree Bhattacharya on the harmonium presented Raga Hamsadhwani in a unique way as
well as other compositions in Mishra Shivranjani set to dadra. The sitarist, Debajyoti Gupta, performed Raga Kirwani, followed by Wasim Ahmed Khan’s vocal presentation (picture, right) of Raga Behag with Sanjay Adhikari on the tabla, Hiranmay Mitra on the harmonium and Sarwar Hussain on the sarangi.