A musical event 52nd Panchakshar Sangeet Samaroh was organised at Ravindra Bhavan Auditorium here on Thursday.
The event was organised in the memory of a noted classical singer Pandit Putturaj Gawai. Pandit Puttaraj Gawai was an Indian musician in the Hindustani classical tradition, a scholar who authored more than 80 books in Kannada, Sanskrit and Hindi, a music teacher and a social servant. A member of the Gwalior Gharana, he is renowned for his ability to play many instruments such as the veena, the tabla, mridangam, violin and much more as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans) vachanas.
A famous vocalist both in Hindustani and Karnataka Music, he is the recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008. He died on September 17 in year 2010 and the sangeet samahroh was organized to pay tribute to him and his contribution in the world of classical singing.
The event began with the Prathana, (Prayer). It was performed by the artists of Veereshwara Punyashrama. Notably, Veereshwara Punyashrama was founded by Pandit Putturaj Gawai. As the first performance was concluded, the audience felt a wave of pure classical form straight from the Gwalior gharana.
The programme was further followed with a duet performance by Sandeep Sharma and Santashu Dubey. Hailing from the city, both the artists presented a mesmerizing classical performance. They began their presentation with Raga Bhopali in bada taal ‘Ab Mohe Maan le’. Their performance was followed with same raga in chotta khayal, ‘Kaise Dheer Dharu Maan Mahi’. They were accompanied by Ramendra Solanki on Tabla.
The event was followed with another enthralling performance by Smita Nagdev. A noted female sitarist Smita Nagdev took away the hearts as she performed live on stage. She performed one of the Indian ancient ragas of classical music Malkauns Raga leaving the audience awestruck. She was accompanied by Ramendra Solanki on Tabla.
The event was concluded with the performance by Pandit N Vantakesh Kumar from Karnatak.
He began his performance with Raga Sohni in Madhya laya and teen taal, ‘Kahe karat mohe rar Kanhayiya’. He was accompanied by Deepak on Tabla and Jamal Hussain on Harmonium.
The audience witnessed a mild evening with four spell binding performances.