Music festival set to enthrall Pune

Keeping up 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 under way on Thursday.

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 artists will perform during the festival.

Though they have been performing elsewhere in the country the opportunity to get an invitation to the Sawai Gandharva Festival is largely construed as a passport to big times.

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 Samsad, Mumbai.

Young flautist Rakesh Chaurasia is the nephew of flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Rakesh has performed in countries across the world and has been part of a 24-hour live music broadcast by the BBC to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee.

Rahul Deshpande, grandson of the legendary Vasantrao Deshpande, has trained under Usha Chipalkatti and Mukul Shivputra, sone of late Pandit Kumar Gandharva.

The Sawai Gandharva Festival invariably includes an Indian classical dance performance. This year the performer will be Kathak artist Deepak Maharaj - younger son of the Kathak legend Birju Maharaj. He has been performing solo at 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 artists will enthrall the audience too. These towering performers include vocalists Malini Rajurkar, Shubha Mudgal and Prabha Atre and Sarod exponent Ustad Amjad Ali Khan besides sitarist Debu Chaudhari.

The festival will open with the shehanai recital by Shailseh Bhagwat, disciple of Ustad Bismillah Khan who passed away earlier this year. Govind Bedekar, secretary of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal who is organising the festival, said the preparations are in place for an expected audience of about 15,000.