22 Sep 2016  |   06:12am IST

An ode to the maestro

16 Indian classical music artistes from across India will enthrall the audiences at the 12th edition of Pt Jitendra Abhisheki Sangeet Mahotsav. The festival is set to happened on September 24 and 25, 2016

Team Café

Pt Jitendra Abhisheki Sangeet Mahotsav, held in the memory of the late Indian classical music maestro, has come to be known as one of the biggest events in Indian classical music in India. The festival that is back in its 12^th year, is organised by Pt Abhisheki’s charitable trust Tarangini Sanskrutik Pratisthan with Kala Academy Goa and Department of Art and Culture. The audiences will get a taste of Indian classical music on September 24 and 25, 2016 from 10 am to 10 pm.

A number of eminent artistes who have performed at this festival in the past, have left the audience spellbound. World renowned artistes such as Pt. Shubha Mudgal, Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Mukul Komkalli, Pt. Malini Tai Rajurkar, Pt. Ajay Pohankar, Pt. Shruti Sadolikar, Pt. Raja Kale, Pt. Prabhakar Karekar, Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra, Pt. Prabha Atre, Aarti Ankalikar and others in the past 12 years that it has been happening in Goa. The rich talent of the artistes performing at the festival, coupled with the impeccable way in which the entire festival is managed, draw audiences from places like Bhopal, Marathwada, Mumbai and Pune.

The festival will see 16 artistes enthrall the Goan audiences. The artiste roster will feature names such as Rajendra Kothambekar from Goa who will render performances in vocal classical music, Ramakant Gaikwad, Arshad Ali Khan, Sandeep Apte and others. Pt Jitendra Abhisheki’s disciples like Devki Pandit and Hemant Pendse, joined by Balgandharv fame Anand Bhate, will also give the audience a taste of their prowess over Indian classical music. Along with the vocalists, the festival stage will be shared by musicians such as Dhananjay Daithankar on Santoor, Poorbayan Chatterjee on Sitar, Tejendra Mujumdar on Sarod and Milind Tulankar on Jaltarang.

Interestingly, the organisers of the festival are keeping the schedule under the wraps and admit that it is intentional. Shaunak Abhisheki, son of Pt Jitendra Abhisheki says, “Audiences have the tendency to hunt for known names in the schedule and attend only those performances. We do not want that. We want the audiences to come and listen to the talented young artistes too and support them.”

Out of 16 accompanying artistes at the festival, 13 are from Goa. Speaking about this, Abhisheki says, “Most of the accompanying artistes are Goan. We intentionally get fewer accompanying artistes from outside Goa to give local talent exposure and an opportunity to perform with artistes from other parts of India. Most of the times it so happens that the chemistry between the main artiste and the accompanying artiste leads to them continuing the work relationship, and performing together in different parts of the country and the world. This is a great thing, especially for budding local talent.”