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Bhubaneswar: The Sangeet Natak Akademi in association with the Odia Language, Literature and Cultural Department launched a five-day cultural extravaganza, Shreshtha Bharat Sanskriti Samagam, here Tuesday.
The festival showcases legendary artistes from across the country who are scheduled to regale the audience with their respective field of art.
A seminar marked the beginning of the programme at Bhanja Kala Mandap wherein eminent artistes participated.
Hindustani classical vocalist Ajoy Chakarabarty from West Bengal spoke at length about Sanskrit language which he said is a powerful medium to communicate and sing. The popularity of the language has been waning in the recent times due to our rapid interaction with the western world.
Prabha Atre from Maharashtra underscored the importance of Khayal in music. “It is the modern genre of classical singing in North India. The name has its origin in Arabic which means “imagination”. Khayal like Indian classical music, is a modal, with a single melodic line and without harmonic parts. The modes are called raga, and each raga is a complicated framework of melodic rules.
Violinist Mysore Manjunath from Karnataka deliberated upon the origin of violin in India. Although Italy has given birth to the stringed instrument, it came to India along with the British. Indian musicians greeted it and consequently, it replaced veena and flute, to some extent. Baluswami Dikshitar is the first known violinist to infuse violin into traditional Karnatic music. The instrument became extremely popular in a short time. While the Indian violin is identical to its Italian counterpart, it is normally tuned differently and played in a different position.
Vocalist Ramhari Das of Odisha explained the basic concepts of Odissi music which primarily reigns over the coastal region. It is usually performed by a solo singer, accompanied by mardala, mini-cymbals, tambura and harmonium or violin. In some genres flute, sitar, and other instruments are used along with Odissi.
Tabla player Yogesh Samsi of Maharashtra who talked about the growth of tabla said the instrument was initially played in Delhi and now it is played all over the world.
In the second part of the classical music concert, held at Rabindra Mandap, vocalist Rashid Khan from West Bengal gave a Hindustani vocal presentation.
Rakesh Chaurasia of Maharashtra and Shashank Subramanyam of Tamil Nadu presented Hindustani and Carnatic flute jugalbandi and Vikku Vinayakaran of Tamil Nadu performed Carnatic instrumental ensemble.