Classical is back

The Rotary Club President speaking about the purpose of organising such a festival, said that it was for the financing of the community and social service activities of the club, that they have been organising this festival for the last nine years.

Talking on the huge crowd, who were both knowledgeable and enthusiastic, performer Ustad Dilshad Khan said that he now knows why it is said that classical music would not survive without Maharashtrians.

The programme had four performers on the first day, Pt. Ramnarayan playing the sarangi, a vocal recital by Ustad Rashid Khan, vocal by Parveen Sultana and Ustad Dilshad Khan and Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt’s experimental Mohana Veena which is an adapted version of a Hawaiaan Guitar.

On the second day the programme opened with Dr. Prabha Atre’s vocal perforamce, followed by Milind Raikar’s violin performance, and the promising young singer Savani Shende, and culminated in a masterly exposition on the santoor by Pt. Shivkumar Sharma.

The standard of music, as expected was very high, with the stalwarts excelling and the younger generation showing good promise, but there was disapproval among the elder connoisseurs on the experimental and fusion techniques adopted by some of the performers. One gentleman was heard saying, "I don’t know, but a Hawaiian Guitar…?!". The programme on both days had to closed rather abruptly, due to police regulation on public performances, and the audience left reminiscing about earlier performances which used to run right into the next morning.