Strawberry Fields reverberates with shehnai

SD Sharma

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Chandigarh, August 5

The Durga Das Foundation and SPIC MACAY organised a scintillating ‘shehnai’ recital by renowned maestros Sanjeev Shankar and Ashwani Shankar at the Newton Hall of Strawberry Fields High School here today.

The duo had received Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for 2010-2011 in the Hindustani Music Instrumental category and Aditya Vikram Birla Puraskar in 2015.

Presenting 450 years of legacy of their Banaras ‘gharana’ , they commenced their recital with a brief introduction to the musical instrument.

The duo made the audience to sing along a bhajan, ‘Prabhu ji dya karo’, composed by their guru Pandit Ravi Shanker, before delving into morning raga ‘Shudh Saranag’ through an ‘alaap’. The duo created a devotional aura by presenting ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’. They duo explained about ‘Raga Bhairavi’. The students engaged the maestros in an interactive session also.

Later, Durga Das Foundation Director Atul Khanna reiterated: “It is our endeavour to keep students attached to our traditions by keeping in touch with our artistic and cultural history. We endorse the maestros exploring the new genres of music, dance and performing arts, but don’t lose the sight of our ancestral lineage.”