Tuning in to the melody

The 10th annual edition of the classical music festival SaMaPa (Sopori Academy of Music And Performing Arts)  Sangeet Sammelan is being organised in the Capital. The three-day long festival is a calendar event of Delhi and attracts connoisseurs of music from various parts of the country and abroad. The festival also features a painting and photography exhibition by the artistes of J and K and Delhi. SaMaPa Sangeet Sammelan is a gateway for the young musicians with exceptional talent getting their first stage in a prestigious festival along with senior legendary maestros of the country. The festival kicked off on 21 November.

The opening day of the festival  saw performances by - Swar-laya Samwad (Panch Tatva) – Sameer Bhalerao, Anjani Mishra, Nitin Sharma (Vocal) and Manoj Mishra, Deepak Sahai, Sachin Sharma (Tabla) with Pt. Vijay Shanker Mishra, Abhay Rustum Sopori (Santoor) and Rekha Nadgauda, Aditi Nadgauda Panse with Kirti Kala Mandir dance troupe (Kathak dance ).

The second day featured Ajay Prasanna and Sugato Bhaduri on flute and mandolin, Dhananjay Hegde (vocal) and Pt. Debu Chaudhuri and Prateek Chaudhuri on sitar. 

The festival will end today at the musical note of sitar and cello recitals by Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao De Haas. It will also feature Kaivalya Kumar (Vocal) and recitals of Pt. Bhajan Sopori  on santoor.

The festival will also be featuring other maestros like - Ustad Akram Khan, Athar Hussain, Durjay Bhaumik, Mithilesh Jha, Ustad Rafiuddin Sabri, Shailendra Mishra, Subash Kanti Das (Tabla), Rishi Shankar Upadhyay (Pakhawaj), Ghanshyam Sisodia (Sarangi), Damodar Lal Ghose, Paromita Mukherjee, Vinay Mishra (Harmonium) and others.

SaMaPa is a cultural movement translating from a deep rooted vision of its Chairman, Pandit Bhajan Sopori and the tireless efforts of the members of Board in creating a unique, unbiased and empowering national level platform for presentation, propagation, and teaching of traditional music and performing arts for the artistes and the young talents. 

It is acclaimed as a cultural bridge of the State of Jammu and Kashmir with rest of the country and to have created a new generation of music connoisseurs. SaMaPa widens its horizon into the general masses by creating the right platform for better appreciation and understanding of the traditional music and its technicalities, and enabling them to utilize the power of music in leading a more balanced life, as well as exploring opportunities with music as means to their employment. It recognises the contribution of several artistes, leaders, officials and individual personalities for their tireless efforts in propagating and keeping the traditional system of music alive.