Like every good thing, the four-month biggest digital fundraiser festival of Indian classical music and dance, titled Swara Samrat Festival 20-21, is also coming to an end. The musical and dance extravaganza, which started on November 1, 2020 will finally come to an end on February 28, 2021.
For the last nine years, Kolkata-based renowned sarod player Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, his wife and eminent vocalist Dr Manasi Majumdar, their son and popular sarod player Indrayuddh Majumdar have been organizing Swara Samrat Festival in their city. However, given the Covid-19 pandemic, this is for the first time, they took festival to the virtual media. In the maiden year of their digital debut, where 100 top legendary classical masters connected digitally from Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru and performed, the event was a major success.
Now, with just a few days left for the event to end, the music connoisseurs can witness some of the fascinating performances on the digital platform. Pt Tejendra Nayaran also made sure that through Swara Samrat 20-21, he can help those Indian artistes, who have been economically affected due to Covid-19 “Through this festival, we will raise money for the musicians who have been affected by the pandemic for the last 8-9 months. In such a situation, we thought we should come together as a fraternity and support each other,” said Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar.
Swara Samrat Festival 20-21 featured 36 stellar performances by musicians such as Kaushiki Chakraborty, Bickram Ghosh, Kushal Das (in Kolkata), Ulhas Kashalkar (in Pune), N Rajam (in Mumbai), Rajendra Gangani (in Delhi), Mysore Manjunath & Mysore Nagaraj, Jayanthi Kumaresh and Rukmini Vijayakumar (in Bengaluru).
On February 7, Momim Khan Niazi will perform sarangi solo with Zaheen Khan accompanying on tabla. On Valentine’s Day, Kedar Kelkar, Pranab Gaurav and Ameta Bichu will regale the audience with their soulful performance. On February 21, Pt Kushal Das and Pt Tanmoy Bose will perform on the digital platform.
Vidhushi Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, one of India’s leading Hindustani vocalists, congratulated the organizers of Swara Samrat Festival 2020-21 for such a grand online event. “Initially I thought that during the pandemic, may be for a year, I would concentrate on my riyaaz. In that way, I would be able to offer my art better to the world. But then, in the pandemic situation, some solace, some healing is required for the soul in the form of good music,” said Deshpande.
On the final day of the festival i.e. February 28, Pt Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt Yogesh Samsi and Tanmay Deochake will perform. Padma recipient and renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Pt Ulhas Kashalkar, had watched the physical concert of Swara Samrat Festival in Kolkata and was highly impressed. “There’s a certain standard of music presentation in Swara Samrat Festival. I do not like the concepts of virtual concerts. There’s a different kind of pleasure when we perform in a live concert when you can feel the musical instrument beside you,” he said.
Besides, a Global Digital Competition named SSF Championship also took place in SSF 20-21. The audience can watch all performance by legendary musicians and dancers at www.swarasamratfestival.com