Midnight melodies and morning raags: Inside Lucknow’s first-of-its-kind overnight Indian classical music baithak

Lucknow will witness overnight classical music event Vibhavari from 10 pm till 6.45 am. The event has been held to bring alive the old tradition of baithaks.

Saturday night in the state capital will reverberate with classical musical notes during the first-of-its-kind overnight Vibhavari baithak event. Starting at 10pm till 6am, the overnight classical music event will bring alive the old tradition of baithaks.

A file photo from a baithak concert held in Lucknow. (Inset) Sarod player Pandit Abhijeet Roy Chowdhury, vocalist Varun Mishra, sarod player Smit Tiwari and tabla player Pandit Ravinath Mishra

The event will witness 13 performances by artistes from New Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune and from all over the state.

“Our endeavour is to revive these kinds of baithak and help people gather to informally join this kind of music. In Awadh, it was a tradition to have overnight music nights, but it's no longer held. In Lucknow, plays, kathak, vocals used to happen often, but music concerts were missing. So, we started with small baithaks and now we are doing it every Sunday at Lete Hue Hanuman Temple in Chowk and a lot of people including youths are joining.”

Over the years, the city has witnessed baithaks and classical music festivals. Festivals in baithak formats are also happening like Sanatkada Festival, Nadarpan Fest, KK Kapoor Memorial event and more.

Sangeet Natak Academy awardee (2015) and sarod player Pandit Abhijeet Roy Chowdhury (68), who will be performing at the event, says, “My guruji and relative Pt Bholanath Bhattacharya used to tell that such overnight baithaks used to happen at music patron Rai Umanath Bali’s haveli. Late night concerts do happen but they used to stay till 1-2 am. My timing is at midnight so I am looking forward to playing night raags.”

He has been performing since 1971. “Baithak is reviving and a whole night event is now happening in Lucknow. In Beneras, this keeps happening specially at Sankat Mochan Mahotsav. Here sangat pairing is done but there sangat happens randomly without rehearsal which is great fun.”

Tabla guru, Sangeet Natak Academy awardee and performer, Pandit Ravinath Mishra says, “People don’t have so much time now so this tradition faded away. I remember at weddings such baithak-type nights used to happen. A decade back, I attended an event till wee hours at Aliganj Temple. There are many raags late at night and early morning which can be best performed in real time.”

The event has been organised by Trisaamaa Arts in collaboration with Pt. Anokhelal Mishra Cultural Centre.

Baithak permission:

Abhishek tells, “For small baithak at homes one does not need permissions as they are non-commercial activities. For the overnight baithak we have taken permission from the local administration and intimated the local police station.”

Performers:

• Akshay Avasthi (vocal) and Amogh (tabla)
• Shivam Tiwari and Amit (tabla jugalbandi) with Prashant Tiwari (harmonium)
• Piyush Mishra (vocal) and Soham Mishra (tabla)
• Pt Abhijeet Roy Chowdhury (sarod) with Pt Manoj Mishra (tabla)
• Amritesh Shandilya (tabla solo)
• Varun Mishra (vocal) with Adhyatma Pandey (tabla)
• Smit Tiwari (sarod) with Arunesh Pandey (tabla)
• Rajeev Malik (vocal) with Sarang Pandey (tabla)
• Garun Mishra (vocal) with Pt Ravinath Mishra (tabla)
• Akshat Awasthi (vocal) with Sheikh Ibrahim (tabla)
• Praveen Kashyap (vocal) with Aradhya Kashyap (tabla)
• Kunal Verma (vocal) with Mohit dube (tabla)
• Krishna Kuldeep (vocal) Atul Pathak (tabla)

Catch it live:

What: Vibhavari Nadarpan

Where: Caravan Studio, Picnic Spot Rd

When: May 23, 2026. 10pm to 6am