A decade of Swara Samrat festival
The Hindu
The 10th edition, starting in Delhi this weekend, celebrates the centennial of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
The Swara Samrat Festival (SSF), dedicated to global icons of performing arts, will kick-start its 10th season of classical performances this weekend.
To be held in four metro cities, the event will start off from Delhi on July 23 and subsequently travel to Kolkata, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
The SSF is a brainchild of Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee sarod maestro Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, his classical vocalist wife Dr. Manasi Majumder, and their son, Sarodist Indrayuddh Majumder. The family, along with their Shreeranjani Foundation Trust, has been organising this mega festival for the last 10 years.
This year is special as the festival celebrates the centennial of Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. In the last nine seasons the SSF featured legends, seasoned maestros and also young maestros of Indian classical music and dance. The artistes have performed in front of thousands of global audiences each year.
On Saturday, Gandhar Deshpande will present Hindustani vocal recital with Ishaan Ghosh accompanying him on tabla and Vinay Mishra on harmonium. The other two recitals will feature Kaushik Mukherjee on sarod, accompanied by Debjit Patitundi on tabla.
Piyush Chauhan and Preeti Sharma will present a Kathak jugalbandi with Yogesh and Nishit Gangani on tabla, Ashish Gangani on pakhawaj, Karan Gangani on Padhant and vocal by Sami Ullah Khan.
On Sunday, Lakshay and Ayush Mohan will present a sitar - sarod jugalbandi with Ishaan Ghosh accompanying them on tabla. There will be a solo tabla performance by Yashwant Vaishnav who will be accompanied by Nilay Salvi on the harmonium. Hindustani vocal recital by Arshad Ali Khan with Debjit Patitundi on tabla and Murad Ali Khan on Sarangi will bring the curtain down on the two-day programme.
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