Rashid Khan, Pandit Jasraj show-stoppers on fourth day of Music Festival

A clutch of stalwarts weaved their magic to captivate the packed crowd on the fourth day of five-night Bengal Classical Music Festival at the Abahoni Grounds in Dhanmondi here on Friday.

From Rashid Khan's mesmerising 'khayal' to a 'jugalbandi' of sarod by Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and violin by Mysore Manjunath and 'khayal' in Raga Jog by Pandit Jasraj, it was a treat for one and all who braved dipping temperatures to stay awake all night and absorb top-notch music. The festival is its sixth edition and has been organised by the Bengal Foundation.

Rashid Khan performed a khayal in Raga Puriya and his own creation Raga Priyaranjini. He was accompanied by Nagnath Adgaonkar on vocals, Pandit Subhankar Banerjee on the tabla, Ajay Joglekar on the harmonium and his son Sabir Khan on the sarengi.

Next up, Tejendra Narayan and Manjunath performed Raga Simhendra Madhyamam. Pandit Yogesh Samsi was on the tabla, while Arjun Kumar accompanied them on the mridangam.

Jasraj then performed a bhajan in Raga Durga. He was accompanied by Ram Kumar Mishra on the tabla, Pandita Tripti Mukherjee on the harmonium and Sridhar Parthasarathy on the mridangam. Rattan Mohan Sharma rendered vocal support during the performance.

The 87-year old started with Raga Jog which got the audience on their feat.

The penultimate performance of the night, cello by Saskia Rao de-Haas was also an absolute crowd pleaser. She performed Raga Nandkauns and tunes from two popular songs by Rabindranath Tagore. Pandit Yogesh Samsi accompanied him on the tabla and Tinku Sheel and Abhijit Kundu were on the tanpura. Tapan Chowdhury, Director Square Group handed the crest to the artiste.

The last performance of the night was Sitar by Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee, accompanied by Soumen Nandy on the tabla. He performed Raga lalit with Bistar and gat jhala. He finished the performance with Raga Bhairavi.

Earlier, directed by renowned dance exponent Sharmila Bandopadhyay, Nritya Chirantan, the dance recital had three parts, namely Manipuri, Bharatnatyam and Kathak by Sweety Das, Amit Chowdhury, Snata Shahrin, Sudeshna Shyamaprabha, Mehraj Haque Tushar and Zuairiyah Mouli.

--IANS

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