The heady combination of shehnai and sitar promises to set hearts racing on the first day of Saptak 2012 the 32nd edition of longest international music festival. The fest will begin on January 1 with the first session — a double bill with Ustad Ali Abbas Khan’s Shehnai and Kartik Sheshadri’s sitar accompanied by Shubh Maharaj on tabla.
In an effort to revive ancient instruments that have faded from the main stream music, Saptak will showcase instruments like Surbahar, Vichitra Veena, Rudra Veena, Israj, Rubab, Nakkara, Naal, and Khadtal. Renditions of these instruments will be the special attractions at the festival.
On Day 1, Hetal Mehta Joshi will play tabla with Taal Vadya, Gazi Khan (Khadtal), Hemant Bhatt (Pakhawaj) and Firoz Khan (Dholak) accompanied by Ikram Khan on sarangi. The last session on the opening day is a vocal duet of Pt Rajan and Sajan Mishra. Alongside the revival of fading instruments, the festival has included an innovative fusion session by Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt who would play Mohan Veena accompanied by keyboard, guitar, sitar, tabla, and jazz drums.
Praful Anubhai, of Saptak said, “The festival is dedicated to past maestros including Sultan Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Sharda Sahay (tabla) and Mahemud Dholpuri (harmonium). To pay homage to these legendary artists, we plan to show clips of their performances at Saptak.”
Lgendary vocalists Ajoy Chakraborty, Girijadevi, Gundecha Brothers, Pandit Jasraj, Jayshree Bombay, Kaushiki Chakraborty Desikan, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shaukat Hussain Khan, Shubha Mudgal, Ulhas Kashalkar will perform at the festival.
Iconic instrumentalists Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, Buddhaditya Mukerjee, George Brooks, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Krishnamohan Bhatt, Rajam N, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Shivkumar Sharma, Shubhendra Rao, Ustad Sujat Khan, and Vishwamohan Bhatt are to perform at the programme. Birju Maharaj will entertain the viewers with his dance. Top percussion artists Akhilesh Gundecha, Fazal Qureshi, Puran Maharaj, Sapan Chaudhary, Sandeep Das, Shubh Maharaj, and Vishnu Sahay would accompany various artists during the festival. The festival’s venue is Amrut Mody School of Management, near IIMA.
