A select gathering at the Tollygunge Club was enchanted by eight musicians as part of Confluence — Raga Meets World Music, partnered by t2, on the evening of November 24. The event, aimed at bringing together music from both the Indian classical and Western worlds on one platform. The evening was divided in two sessions, each lasting over three hours. The first session featured a classical performance by Ustad Sabir Khan, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya and Pandit Partho Bose. One of the pieces played by the trio was the Kirwani Raaga, a South Indian tune that was presented in the North Indian way.
Louiz Banks played the keyboard and won over hearts with his old school charm. The audience was elated to witness the father of Indian jazz and a consistent applause followed throughout Banks' performance alongside the others onstage
The second session featured world music with the aid of drums, guitar, keyboard, tabla and saxophone. Louiz Banks, Taufiq Qureshi, Arif Khan, Akash Ganguly and Aniket Chaturvedi performed several pieces that displayed an expert fusion between Hindustani music, jazz, Indian jazz and blues. The artiste in the limelight was veteran music composer Banks who is also known as the Godfather of Indian Jazz. Taufiq Qureshi, the legendary percussionist, impressed all with his warm words and skilful playing of the drums. Qureshi said, “Calcutta has a beautiful environment and the appreciation the people here have for music and art is admirable.” Notably, Qureshi is also the brother of the esteemed tabla artiste, Zakir Hussain.
Pandit Partho Bose was felicitated by the club President after his masterful performace on the sitar
President of Tollygunge Club, Sujoy Banerjee, said, “As a club we have always promoted good quality music for our members so they get to explore new genres and experience their favourite ones. Confluence is an initiative catering to people with varied tastes in music, be it classical rhythm or jazz. This is the second time we are doing something like this. Last year, we had Parveen Sultana perform here and it was her first time in Calcutta in a long time. We look forward to making this an annual event.”
Akash Ganguly displayed his talent with the guitar and impressed the crowd with his tunes. The talented bass guitarist blended groovy funk, jazz, blues and pop
Arif Khan played the tabla excellently for the second session of Confluence that witnessed a combination of Indian Jazz and classical music. He is a child prodigy who was born into a distinguished lineage of musicians of the renowned Farukkhabad Gharana and Kirana Gharana