Shriram Shankarlal musical festival to be held from March 6 to 8 in Delhi

Over time, the festival has grown into a key platform for both established maestros and emerging artistes

The Shriram Shankarlal Music Festival is set to return with a focus on depth and discipline. The three-day festival with no entry fee, will be held from March 6 to 8 at the Open Air Arena of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra. It marks another edition in a legacy that has shaped the capital’s classical music calendar for over seven decades.

The opening will feature Carnatic vocalist Ramanna Balachandran, Hindustani singer Siddharth Belmannu and sarod exponent Tejendra Narayan Majumdar

Founded in 1947 by Sumitra Charat Ram, the festival emerged in the early years of Independence with a mandate to present Indian classical music with respect for tradition. Over time, it has grown into a key platform for both established maestros and emerging artistes, while retaining a curatorial approach that privileges lineage and musical rigour over scale, according to the sources.

The opening will feature Carnatic vocalist Ramanna Balachandran, Hindustani singer Siddharth Belmannu and sarod exponent Tejendra Narayan Majumdar. Day two will foreground vocal traditions with performances by Sawani Shende and flautist Shashank Subramaniam, alongside a guru–shishya presentation by Sajan Mishra and his son Swaransh, representing the Banaras gharana.

The festival will conclude with shehnai player Lokesh Anand and vocalist Shashwati Mandal, followed by a duet performance by sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez and tabla maestro Pt Anindo Chatterjee.

Over the decades, the festival has hosted prominent figures such as Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan, M S Subbulakshmi and Siddheshwari Devi, many of whom received the country’s highest civilian honours, said the sources.