Keeping alive its tradition of presenting the country's promising young musicians to the discerning audience that flocks to Pune in the second week of December every year, the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival - India's most prominent festival of Hindusthani classical music - will get underway tomorrow.This year, the four-day festival - in its 54th year now - promises to offer a glimpse of times to come in the field of Indian music because, as many as 11 artistes will perform in it. Although many of them have performed elsewhere in the country, the opportunity to perform at the Sawai Gandharva Festival is largely considered as a passport to bigger platforms. Prominent among the first timers at the Festival are youngsters Shaswati Mandal, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rahul Deshpande and Kathak dancer Deepak Maharaj. Shaswati who hails from Bhopal is the grand-daughter of Gwalior Gharana exponent Balabhau Umedkar. Daughter of singer Kamal Mandal, Shaswati is a recipient of the government of India scholarship for 1987-92. She has also been awarded the Sur Mani Samman by the Sur Singar Sansad, Mumbai.Young flautist Rakesh Chaurasia is the nehew of flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Rakesh has performed all over the world and was part of a 24-hour live music concert broadcast by the BBC to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee. Rahul Deshpande - grandson of the legendary Dr Vasantrao Deshpande - has trained under Usha Chipalkatti and Mukul Shivputra, son of (Late) Pandit Kumar Gandharva. The Sawai Gandharva Festival invariably includes a Indian classical dance performance. This year the performer will be Kathak artist Deepak Maharaj - younger son of Kathak legend Pandit Birju Maharaj. He has been performing solo in a number of concerts and also accompanying his illustrious father on stage.While the Festrival is a dream-come-true for these youngsters, a galaxy of seasoned artistes will enthrall the audience too. These towering performers include vocalists Malini Rajurkar, Shubha Mudgal and Dr Prabha Atre and Sarod exponent Ustad Amjad Ali Khan besides sitarist Debu Chaudhari. The festival will open with a shehanai recital by Shailesh Bhagwat, a disciple of Late Ustad Bismillah Khan who passed away earlier this year. Govind Bedekar, secretary of the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal, which organises the festival, said arrangements are in place and they expect an audience of about 15,000.
