A tribute to the arts

Smriti Nandan’, a cultural organisation dedicated to the promotion of the arts, is presenting the 29th ‘Devnandan Ubhayaker Yuva Sangeet Utsav’ on September 26 and 27. Founded by the late Lalita Ubhayaker, a reputed vocalist of the Agra ‘Gharana’ and a philanthropist, the Utsav presents young, promising classical musicians who are disciples of great gurus of the Hindustani tradition.  

The festival highlights the talents of young musicians and the continuing relevance of the ‘guru-shishya’ tradition. Artistes who have featured in the festival over the years are now established senior musicians themselves.  Some of these artistes are Ustad Rashid Khan and Pandits Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha.

The Utsav is being held at the Canara Union Hall, No 42, 8th Main Road, Malleswaram at 6 pm on September 26 and 10 am on September 27. The opening performance will be a tabla ensemble presentation by Sangeet Piyasi of Kolkata, who will present eight of their most promising students all below the age of 16. This will be followed by a vocal recital by Swyamduti Majumder, disciple of Vidushi Sanjukta Ghosh of the Kasur Patiala Gharana.  The September 27 morning concert features a flute recital by Bengaluru’s own Dattatreya Mutalik Desai, who is the recipient of the first prize in the AIR competition and disciple of Pt Praveen Godkhindi. The concluding performance will be a dhrupad vocal ‘jugalbandi’ recital by Sagar Morankar and Prasanna Vishwanathan, both disciples of Pandit Uday Bhawalkar. Accompaniment on the pakhawaj will be provided by Prakash Awad, also trained by Pt Uday Bhawalkar. Tabla accompaniment is by Sumith Naik, disciple of Dr Udayraj Karpur. Harmonium  is by Madhusoodan Bhat presently guided by Dr Ravindra Katoti. Entry to the Utsav is free.