A host of artistes will turn your winter melodious with Swara Samrat Festival

The city’s winter season remains incomplete without the mandatory classical music festivals and Swara Samrat Festival is back with its ninth edition featuring an impressive line-up to impress you with electric performances by renowned classical artistes. However, the classical music and dance festival that has brought various luminaries of the Indian music scene to the city in the past, has gone digital due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Renowned sarod player Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar who has been steering the festival along with his wife and eminent vocalist Manasi Majumdar and son Indrayudh, also a popular sarod player, says, “Every Sunday, we are premiering 36 stellar performances by over 100 legends, maestros and youngsters. We have filmed them performing at empty auditoriums and film studios using our state-of-the-art audio and video infrastructure in five cities including Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune.”

The festival also has an altruistic side and elaborating on the same, the maestro says, “With this online edition we also intend to raise funds for artistes who have been hit hard financially by the pandemic. These musicians still haven’t managed to get bookings for live concerts since it’s not yet clear when things will go back to normal.”

The list of artistes who will be performing at the festival (on till February end) includes kathak exponent Pt Rajendra Gangani, vocalist Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, sitar player Pt Kushal Das and tabla maestro Pt Tanmoy Bose, among others. Interesting jugalbandis or duet performances with instruments like the shehnai, tabla, violin and more will also add to the magic of the soiree.

The line-up from Kolkata calls for full attendance as percussionist Bickram Ghosh will be performing on December 20, followed by singer Kaushiki Chakraborty and Subhankar Banerjee on January 3, next year. Tabla maestro Tanmoy Bose will enthral us all on February 21, 2021, and he will be accompanied by the revered sitarist Pandit Kushal Das