While new comers and first timers are eagerly looking forward to perform at the 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav, out of the 31 artists performing, some will be returning to the prestigious stage after a break.
“This time we have a mix of artists coming from different traditions of music from all over the country,” said Shrinivas Joshi, executive president of the Arya sangeet prasarak mandal. There are quite a number of young talents singing for the first time like Ravindra Parchure, Basant Kabra, Dr. Rita Dev, Saurabh Salunke, Aparna Panshikar, Ragi Balwant Singh, Milind Raikar and Yadnesh Raikar, Dattatray Velankar, Vivek Sonar, Nirmala Rajshekhar,Indradeep Ghosh and Prateek Chaudhari.This year the venue is also new and it will be testing times for the regular sing singers to perform in a new place. But many of the artists feel that it will be interesting to perform in a new venue and maybe recreate the same musical magic that used to be created on Ramanbaug ground”.
Dr Prabha Atre, veteran artist of the Kirana Gharana of Hindustani classical music said, “The venue will not make much of a difference, after all we go to different places for performances, may be it will feel a little different from the routine but as long as the audience appreciates music and comes to the new venue that is enough. I must congratulate the organisers, for it is very difficult to keep a music festival of such large scale going on.”
{{/usCountry}}Dr Prabha Atre, veteran artist of the Kirana Gharana of Hindustani classical music said, “The venue will not make much of a difference, after all we go to different places for performances, may be it will feel a little different from the routine but as long as the audience appreciates music and comes to the new venue that is enough. I must congratulate the organisers, for it is very difficult to keep a music festival of such large scale going on.”
{{/usCountry}}Sanjeev Abhyankar, disciple of Pt. Jasraj of Mewati Gharana is looking forward for his performance. He said, “The new venue will be a boon for many of the music lovers to have a peaceful entry with ample parking and we know that the organisers will make the venue grand like every year. Once we are in the pandal, that ambience is important, for what we see from the stage tells us the vibes of the place.” He is performing for the third time at Sawai. “My first performance was in 1989, 29 years ago and its wonderful that people want to listen to us. That itself is a great achievement.”
Similarly vocalist Sawani Shende will be performing after 8 years. She says, “It is always wonderful to perform at Sawai. I am looking forward to my performance. It will surely be a new experience,the audience creates a certain kind of warmth. Its like saying wherever Sawai will be held, the audience will come, after all my connect is with the audience”.
Dr Pandit Ajay Pohankar’s first performance was in 1959, and he was invited by Dr Vasantrao Deshpande and Bhimsen Joshi when he was 10 years old. “The audience in Pune has showered immense love for me and now it has been 62 years that I have been performing. The ambience should be important while singing for it is the audience reaction that we seek”.
The festival will be held in between December 12 to 16 at Maharashtriya Mandal Krida Sankul, Mukund Nagar near Swargate.
Timings
Wednesday, December 12: 3:00pm to 10:00pm,
Thursday, December 13: 4:00pm to 10:00pm
Friday, December 14: 4:00pm to 10:00pm.
Saturday, December 15: 3pm to 12am (with the approval from the concerned authorities)
Sunday, December 16: 12pm to 10:00pm.
performances at the festival-
Day 1 (Wednesday, December 12)
The first performance of day 1 of the 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav will be a Shehnai recital by Kalyan Apar, a Shehnai player from Aurangabad. This will be followed by vocalist Ravindra Parchure who got the musical guidance from renowned vocalist of Gwalior-Agra Gharana Pt. Arun Kashalkar and also from a vocal classical maestro from Gwalior, Manohar Bhagwat. Basant Kabra, one of the eldest disciple of late Sitar player and musician Annapurna Devi will be performing Guitar on the same day. He will be followed by vocalist Prasad Khaprde, who is a senior disciple of Rashid Khan of Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana. The first day will end with the enchanting performance of renowned vocalist Begum Parveen Sulatana of Patiyala Gharana.
Day 2 (Thursday, December 13)
The second day of the festival will mark the recital by vocalist Dr. Rita Dev, who is a vocalist from Banaras Gharana and a disciple of late vocalist Girija Devi. She will be followed by a young vocalist from Pune, Saurabh Salunke who is son and disciple of Pt. Prakashsinh Salunke. After that, Rahul Sharma, son and disciple of Santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma will mesmerise the audience. The second day of the festival will end with the performance of veteran vocalist Pt. Ajay Pohankar.
Day 3 (Friday, December 14)
Third day of the festival will start with the performance of Aparna Panshikar, who is a young vocalist of Gwalior-Jaipur Gharana and disciple of Bhaskarbuva Joshi and her mother Meera Panshikar. She will be followed by Ragi Balwant Singh who represents the classical vocal tradition of Punjab. Followed by a violin performance of father-son duo Milind Raikar and Yadnesh Raikar. This day will be concluded by a performance of veteran vocalist Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar.
Day 4 (Saturday, December 15)
The fourth day will be unfolded by the performance of young vocalist Dattatray Velankar who is the disciple of Pt. Vinayak Torvi of Gwalior-Kirana Gharana. Next performance will see the appearance of classical singer Sawani Shende after many years. She will be followed by renowned flute player Vivek Sonar, who is the disciple of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. Followed by Shriniwas Joshi, vocalist of Kirana Gharanaand and son of Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Veteran singer Devki Pandit will perform on the same day. She will be followed by vocalist from Indore Pt. Goswami Gokulotsav Maharaj.This day will end with the sitar performance of Ustad Shahid Parvez who belongs to Imdadkhani Gharana.
Day 5 (Sunday, December 16)
The fifth day will start with the performance of famous Kirana Gharana vocalists- brothers Arshad Ali and Amjad Ali who are disciples of Ustad Mashkur Ali Khan and Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan. They will be followed by vocalist sisters Apoorva Gokhale and Pallavi Joshi who are granddaughters of Pt. Gajananbuva Joshi. In the next performance, veena player Nirmala Rajshekhar and violin player Indradeep Ghosh will perform together. This will be Hindustani-carnatic jugalbandi. They will be followed by veteran vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar, who is the disciple of Pt. Jasraj of Mewati Gharana. After that, Prateek Chaudhari will present a sitar performance. He is the son and disciple of renowned sitar player Debu Chaudhari. He will be followed by legendary Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj and his disciple Shashwati Sen.
As per the tradition, the festival will end with the divine performance by veteran vocalist Dr. Prabha Atre of Kirana Gharana.