3-day sitar fest starts in Kolkata

kolkata: From Maihar, Bishnupur, Indore, Kirana, or Etawah, get ready to witness the essence of ‘gharanas’ of sitar at the three-day sitar festival in city.

After organising a sarod fest, Annapurna Devi Foundation has organised a sitar festival at GD Birla Sabhaghar, Kolkata, which will continue till March 12.

On March 11, sitarist Purbayan Chattopadhyay will be accompanied by Ishan Ghosh on tabla.

Later, Hara Shankar Bhattacharya will perform on sitar with Parimal Chakraborty on tabla.

On March 12, Sahana Banerjee, Ustad Rafique Khan, and Ustad Shahid Parvez will perform on sitar accompanied by Rupak Bhattacharya, Ramdas Palsule, and Hindol Majumdar on tabla respectively.

Nityananda Haldipur, on behalf of the organisers, said: “Six genres of sitar music will be performed. Along with the popular sitar players, famous percussionists will also perform.”

Sitar maestro Shubhendra Rao, a protege of Pandit Ravi Shankar, said: “It’s been an honour to perform at such a prestigious initiative

in the fond memory of Annapurna Devi.”