The 39th edition of one of Goa’s most popular musical feasts, Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar festival brings music lovers across Goa an opportunity to listen to accomplished classical vocalists and instrumentalists from all over India
The curtain to the 39th edition of the prestigious Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar festival organised by Kala Academy Goa will be lifted on November 15. The festival will be held on November 15, 16 and 17 with the participation of a galaxy of top rated vocalists and instrumentalists of India. The festival which is rated amongst the top 10 music festival of India having glamour of its own, will be inaugurated by . Govind Gaude, Minister for Art & Culture, and chairman of Kala Academy. on Friday, November 15 at 5pm at Master Dattaram Natyagruha, Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda. Ravi Naik, MLA, Ponda and Dayanand Sopte,MLA and chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation will grace the inaugural function as guests of honour. All the concerts in the festival will be open to music lovers and general public and the entry will be free. However some seats will be reserved.
Prior to the inaugural function, the curtain raiser event of the festival, a Symposium on the topic ‘Contribution of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana to Indian Classical Music’ will be held from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm on November 15 at the Art Gallery, Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir, Ponda-Goa in which music experts Vidushi Shruti Sadolikar Katkar, Dr. Vasanti Tembe, and Sulabha Pishawikar will participate and present their views. The session will be moderated by noted music critic Keshav Paranjape.
After the inaugural function later that day, Goan Young vocalist Samiksha Kakodkar will present classical vocal concert at 5.15 pm followed by classical vocal concert by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande. The first day’s session will conclude with Mohanveena Instrumental Concert by Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt.
On November 16, second day’s session will begin at 10 am with classical vocal recital by Goan artist Subhash Parwar followed by instrumental concert (Sarod) by Pt. Narendra Nath Dhar. The morning session will conclude with classical vocal concert by Vidushi Shubhada Paradkar. The afternoon session will begin at 4 pm with the classical vocal concert by Goan artist Dnyaneshwar Naik followed by classical vocal concert by Pt. Kaivalya Kumar Gurav. The session will conclude with instrumental jugalbandi concert ‘Rhythm Spectrum’- Layadhaaraa by Vidwan Dr. Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Mrudangam) & Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla).
On the concluding day, November 17, Sanjeev Shankar and Ashwani Shankar will present Shehnai instrumental concert at 10 am followed by Shashwati Mandal’s classical vocal concert in Gwalior Gharana style. The concluding classical vocal concert of the morning session will be presented by Mahendra Toke, exponent of Indore Gharana Gayaki tradition.
The concluding session of the festival will begin at 4 pm with vocal recital by Shri. Omkar Dadarkar followed by instrumental concert ‘Layaraaga Samarpanam’ by Stree Taal Tarang Group of Panchakanyas namely Sukanya Ramgopal (Ghatam, Ghatatarang and Konnakol), Soumya Ramachandra (Violin), Vani Manjunath (Flute), Lakshmi Pillai (Mrudangam) and Bhagyalakshmi Krishna (Morching). There will be classical vocal concert by Pratima Tilak, exponent of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana and the festival will conclude with the Instrumental concert of Santoor by Shri. Rahul Sharma, illustrious son of Pt. Shivkumar Sharma.
All the above artists will be provided with instrumental support by renowned artists like Pt. Omkarnath Gulvady, Pt. Mukundraj Deo, Premanand Amonkar, Shridhar Mandre, Dr. Uday Kulkarni, Abhishek Mishra, Dayanand Kandolkar, Mayank Bedekar, Abhay Datar and Shailesh Gaonkar (Tabla) and Pt. Vishwanath Kanhere, Dr. Sudhanshu Kulkarni, Raya Korgaonkar, Subhash Fatarpekar, Dattaraj Surlekar & Dattaraj Mhalshi (Harmonium). Attukal Balasubramanian (Violin), N. Harriharan (Taala Support) will provide instrumental support to the main artists in the ‘Rhythm Spectrum’ Concert.
All the music lovers and connoisseurs are requested to take note of the above and attend the music festival and curtain raiser event in large numbers .
About Kesarbai Kerkar
Kesarbai Kerkar (July 1892 – September 16 1977) was a classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. A protege of Ustad Alladiya Khan the founder of the gharana, from age sixteen, she went on to become one of the most noted khayal singers of the second half of the 20th century.
Kerkar was awarded the 1953 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, given by the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, as the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. This was followed by the decoration of Padma Bhushan by the government of India in 1969, Her honorific title Surashri meaing one with great voice was bestowed on her in 1948 by Sangeet Pravin Sangitanuragi Sajjan Saman Samiti of Calcutta.
