The 70th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav commenced amid a rich tapestry of performances and tributes to legendary artists, including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Ramnarayan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Swarayogini Padmavibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre and many artists. This year’s festival will be held at the Maharashtra Mandal Krida Sankul, Mukund Nagar, Pune, till Sunday, December 22, 2024.
The festival began with a soulful shehnai performance by Dr S. Ballesh, a disciple of Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan. Accompanied by his son, Dr Krishna Ballesh, they presented Raag Madhuwanti, setting the tone for the event. This performance was accompanied by Prasad Lohar on Tabla, Prakash Ballesh on Duggad, R.K. Ravikumar on Swarmandal and Vinayak on Tanpura.
The second session featured a captivating vocal performance by Shashwati Chavan-Zurunge, a disciple of Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Sudhakar Chavan. She presented a bandish in Raag Multani, followed by a soulful rendition of the bhajan ‘Roop pahata lochani’. Shashwati was accompanied by the veteran artist Mauli Takalkar, who will soon celebrate her 98th birthday. She was accompanied by Gangadhar Shinde on harmonium, Kartik Swamy on Tabla, Gambhir Maharaj on pakhwaj, Shreya Gogate and Shravani Nirokar on Tanpura.
This was followed by a performance by Ram Deshpande, an eminent vocalist from the Agra-Jaipur gharana. He was accompanied by Milind Kulkarni on Harmonium, Ajinkya Joshi on Tabla, Gandhar Deshpande & Archana Deshpande as accompanists, Aditya Modak & Swapnil Chafekar on Taanpura. He started his performance with Raag Shree followed by bandish in Raag Bageshri Bahar. He ended the performance with abhang composed by him.
{{/usCountry}}This was followed by a performance by Ram Deshpande, an eminent vocalist from the Agra-Jaipur gharana. He was accompanied by Milind Kulkarni on Harmonium, Ajinkya Joshi on Tabla, Gandhar Deshpande & Archana Deshpande as accompanists, Aditya Modak & Swapnil Chafekar on Taanpura. He started his performance with Raag Shree followed by bandish in Raag Bageshri Bahar. He ended the performance with abhang composed by him.
{{/usCountry}}During the opening day’s proceedings, Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal’s Vatsalabai Joshi award for this year was conferred upon to Late Pt. Shrikant Deshpande, grandson of Sawai Gandharva and senior disciple of Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. The award consists of a cash prize of ₹51,000 and a citation. This award was presented to his wife, Sheila Deshpande, daughter Gauri and son-in-law Dr. Kaustubh Dindorikar.