144th Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan gets under way

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 27

Shehnai, sarod and violin mesmerised everyone on the first day of the 144th Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan. The magnetic spell of Hindustani classical music was on full display. S Padamkar Salunke’s notes of shehnai pulled everyone inside. Vinod Kumar Dwivedi played dhrupad while Pt Narendra Nath Dhar transfixed everyone with his sarod. Pt Ajoy Chakrabarty’s voice enchanted everyone. The three generation of a family, Dr N Rajam, Sangeeta Shankar and Nandini Shankar, performed violin.

Performances lined up for the second day are tabla (Jaskaran Singh and Pt Vijay Ghate), vocal (Begum Parween Sultana, Vramanti Sarkar, Rashmi Chaudhary and Suranjan Khandalkar), harmonium (Lalit Sisodia and Milind Kulkarni), sitar (Pt Partha Pratim Roy), dhrupad (Pt Umakant Gundecha and Pt Anant Ramakant Gundecha), sitar (Shakir Khan), kathak (Sheetal Kolwalkar) and santoor (Kiranpal Singh Deoora UK).

On December 29, Siddeshwar Dasopant Undalkar (pakhawaj), Simarpreet Singh (vocal thumri), Pt Harsh Narayan (sarangi), Kashish Mittal (vocal), Lakshay Mohan Gupta and Aayush Mohan Gupta (sitar and sarod), Prof Harvinder Singh (vocal), Pt Nityanand Haldipur (flute), Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik (vocal), Rimpa Siva (tabla) and Pt Raghunandan Panshikar (vocal) will regale the audience.

Started in 1875, the Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan is world’s oldest music festival dedicated to Indian classical music. Baba Harivallabh started it in the memory of his guru Swami Tulsagiri. Baba Harivallabh organised the event for 10 years till his death in 1885. Thereafter, the festival was renamed after him.

The festival has a rich history. In 1913, Pandit Vishnu Digambar performed in the event and refused to accept a fee of Rs250 from organisers. Instead, he added Rs5 to it and offered for the memorial to Baba Harivallabh. His disciples follow the practice till date.

Famous writer Suresh Seth, who was Jagjit Singh’s close associate, had once said the ghazal maestro had a dream of performing at the world’s oldest music festival, which never came true.

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