Pune, December 14, 2022: It was an evening to remember for music loving Punekars as Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan enthralled the audience with his splendid performance on the first day of the 68th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav on Wednesday.
โI miss the presence of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi after coming to Pune. Panditji used to call me Guru Bhai and our relationship was beyond family,โ said Amjad Ali Khan, who started his performance with โRaag Shuddh Kalyanโ and followed it up by presenting โRaag Ganesh Kalyanโ in teen taal.
โThe difference between Raag Puriya and Raag Marwah was taught to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi by my father. I am presenting Raag Darbari as it is not Akbarโs โdarbaarโ, but the ”darbaar’ of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi,โ he said to anapplause from the crowd.
Amjad Ali Khan concluded his performance by presenting โEkla Chalo Reโ, penned by Rabindranath Tagore.
He was accompanied by Anubrata Chatterjee and Amit Kavthekar on Tabla.
Earlier, the second half of the opening day saw a breath-taking performance by vocalist Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma, a disciple and nephew of Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj. He presented a couple of โBandishโ, one of which was a prolonged one and a Tarana in โRaag Gorakh Kalyanโ.
He concluded his performance by presenting a Bhajan โOm Namo Vasudevayโ in front of a capacity crowd.
He was accompanied by Abhinay Ravande on Harmonium, Ajinkya Joshi on Tabla, Sukhad Munde on Pakhawaj, Vaidhehi Avdhani and Bhagyashree Kulkarni on Tanpura.
Meanwhile, โSwar Bhimsenโ, a special theme calendar on Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was unveiled at the hands of Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan at the 68th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav in presence of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal’s executive president Shrinivas Joshi. Conceptualized by well known industrial photographer Sateesh Paknikar, the calendar has close-ups of Pt Bhimsen Joshi showing his different facial expressions.
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