Under the spell of Veena

On the second evening of the fourth Bengal Classical Music Festival, a captivated Dhaka audience was treated to riveting rhythms and magical melody.

The first performers of the evening included promising Bangladeshi talents Avijit Kundu and Susmita Debnath Suchi of the Bengal Parampara Sangeetalay. Avijit's dhrupad vocal presentation of Raga Bhopali and Suchi's rendition in Raga Behag garnered applause from the audience.

But when Carnatic vainika Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh began her recital of the saraswati veena on Raga Kamarvardani in Adi tala, her gliding notes, along with the beats of the mridangam and ghatam, swept a vast audience off its feet. She went on to present a piece on Raga Kapi (the Carnatic equivalent of Raga Pilu) on Misra Chapu tala, and finished with a folk tune set on Raga Behag.

Pandit Uday Bhawalkar presented the fundamental Raga Yaman in his usual meditative style, showcasing his vocal prowess in the mandra saptak (lower octave). His performance was lauded by connoisseurs of dhrupad music. 

Pandit Suresh Talwalkar presented tabla along with his daughter Savani Talwalkar. They opened with a composition in Jhaptaal (10-beat) and went on to perform a composition by the legendary Ustad Alla Rakha, demonstrating various chakradar and tehai.

Until this report was filed at 12:30am, the audience waited in anticipation of one of the major attractions of this year's mega event: vocal and flute jugalbandi by stalwarts Dr M Balamuralikrishna and Pandit Ronu Majumdar. Shubhayu Sen Majumdar's esraj recital and the iconic Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty's khayal presentations were also scheduled for the night.

The festival is organised by Bengal Foundation, presented by Square, powered by Robi and supported by Brac Bank, with Blues Communications managing the event.