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Ustad Asad Ali Khan receiving the ITC Award.

Organised by Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad in collaboration with The Millennium Trust, U.K., the five brainstorming sessions, spread over three days, pondered over modern life, faith, human ‘development’ and some interesting traditions. Two sessions of an entire day were dedicated to the intrinsic religious roots of performing arts.

Paul Cheneour, voted high among the world’s best jazz flautists of all times, won hearts with his disarming simplicity and superb virtuosity. A moving story, as narrated by Samik Bandopadhyay, a renowned theatre personality, threw the arc light on the actor who liberates himself from the cage of money and popularity. His art emerges as his supreme worship. This was confirmed by Joanna Jones. The celebrated artist explained how she, in her quest for authenticity, lies down on a huge canvas filled with colours and paints moving her entire body.

Musicologist Vidya Rao drew out the universal pain beyond the ‘primitive’ practice of ‘Muharram Majlis’ provoked by another participant philosopher Arindam Chakraborty who, throughout the seminar, displayed his penchant for satire. While Rao’s emotion-charged presentation could do better with a few ‘soz’ or ‘mersiya’ renderings, Sufi scholar Madan Gopal Singh could do better with less singing.

The single minded devotion springing from spirituality of Indian classical music reverberated in the lush green lawns of Kolkata’s Sangeet Research Academy as well, when 14-year-old Yashwant Vaishnavi gave a stupendous solo tabla recital on the opening day of the15th ITC Sangeet Sammelan. The variety of kaida, paran, tukra and ferd proved that this disciple of Mukund Bhale handles both the tabla and the baayan with utmost ease. His latent talent kindled great expectations.

Earlier, Tushar Dutta, an ex-ITC SRA scholar, commenced the evening with raga Patadeep. Other young participants were Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar) and Sangeeta Shankar who accompanied her mother-guru N Rajam on the violin.

While the ‘Tribute to a Legend’ was dedicated to the memory of Pandit Girija Shankar Chakraborty, the prestigious ITC Award Of The Year went to Ustad Asad Ali Khan, one of the very few custodians of the now-fading Rudra veena. Accompanied by Dalchand Sharma on the pakhawaj, he played raga Bihag, stressing on typical phrases used by the Rampur school.

The two-day long soiree this year introduced interactive sessions with the participating artistes. Veterans like Pandit L.K. Pandit, Vidyadhar Vyas and Jayashri Patnekar, who gave captivating vocal recitals earlier, exchanged views related to their own gharana-based individuality. Such post-performance gun-charcha should be encouraged for better perception of this sublime art.

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