Classical recital lights up music festival

Our Correspondent

Chandigarh , December 9

The second day of the ongoing Hemantotsav music festival,  organised by the Pracheen Kala Kendra, witnessed a distinctive vocal recital by Pune-based classical vocalist Dr Mohan Darekar, along with music ensemble ‘Chougan’, at Tagore Theatre here today.

Mohan Darekar brought alive the melodic character of the oldest raga ‘Shree’ through a ‘Bada khayal bandish kahe main guru’ which melted into a faster paced ‘Ab mori bahn gaho’ with perfect maturity and expansion. Mohan mesmerised the audience with his skills, deft handling of the raga, and lightening speed of ‘taans’. 

The audience was thrilled to relish his emotional-packed ‘Thumri’ in ‘Mishra Kafi’ mixed in ‘Taranna’ form. Gifted with a melodic masculine voice which traversed in all octaves, Darekar displayed perfect diction, purity of ‘sur’ and command over ‘tala’ and ‘laya’. 

The matching by Ustad Mehmood Khan (tabla) and Sumit Mishra added to the success of the concert.

Later, the audience relished a rare musical treat of an ensemble titled ‘Chougun’ directed by flautist Pandit Chetan Joshi featuring Pt Debashish Adhikarti (tabla), veena player Vidushi Shyamala Bhaskar and ghatam exponent Pt MN Kannan.

Chief guest Harish Khare, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune; Dr Shobha Koser; and Sajal Koser from the Kendra honoured the artistes.

Annual Function of Senior Citizens’ Assn

Chandigarh: The Senior Citizens’ Association (Chapter 6) held their annual function at the auditorium of Guru Nanak Public school here on Saturday. The largely attended function was marked with soulful singing by amateur artistes and senior citizens. The highlight of the function was conferring of the life time achievement awards to personalities from different spheres of life for their contribution. The awardees include Harolad Claver (education), PPS Gill (journalism), GS Channi (theatre), Harjinder Kaur (social service), Dr Varinder Mehndi Ratta (literature). Association president SS Lamba conducted the function.