Delhi government’s Sahitya Kala Parishad kick starts their ninth edition of Thumri Festival

New Delhi, September 23, 2019: Delhi government’s Sahitya Kala Parishad kick started their ninth edition of Thumri Festival that represents the melodious journey of Hindustani classical music on Monday at Kamani Auditorium, Mandi House, Delhi. The 3-day festival will continue until 25th September 2019. The musical event was inaugurated by Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. On the first day, the evening witnessed some mesmerising performances by eminent artists. Devashish Dey who has assimilated influences from the three leading Gharanas - Banaras Gharana, Agra Gharana and Gwalior Gharana and developed a harmonious style of his own. He presented Thumri in Raag Des which was followed by a Banarasi Kajri which is a rainy seasonal song. Later, he performed Jhoola which is a song of swings. He was accompanied by Shri Kishor Kumar Mishra on Tabla, Shri K. Rohan Naidu on Violin and Dr. Ragini Sarna on Harmonium. As the evening proceeds, Debapriya Adhikary and Samanwaya presented their act. The duo are A grade artist and Sitarist respectively of All India Radio and Doordarshan. They performed Tappa, Khayal showing the elements of Thumri in it. Besides, they also performed Bandishi Thumri, Dadra, Jhula to name a few and kept the audience wanting for more. The evening came to an end with an enthralling performance by Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar who is currently recognized as one of the top vocalists of the younger generation. Her training with veteran Late Pandit Vasantrao Kulkarni of the Agra Gwalior gharana and from Gana Saraswati Smt Kishori Amonkar of the Jaipur Atrauli gharana has a very pleasant blend in her music. She started her performance with Kamaj Thumri, followed by Jhula. Later, she sang Krishna Birha composed by Late Girija Devi Ji followed by Kajari. She ended her performance with Bahadur Shah Zafar’s composition ‘Babul mora naihar chooto hi jaaye’ set to Hindustani Raga Bhairavi.