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Journalism of Courage
The second day of the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival saw a splendid performance by Kathak dancers Smriti and Anuj Mishra, a sister-brother duo who presented their skills for the first time on the stage of this coveted festival. It was also the first time in the city that any brother-sister duo performed on the stage.
The day also witnessed a huge gathering of around 20,000 enthusiastic audience gathered at the venue to watch some classic performances.
Anuj and Smriti are disciples of their father and well-known Kathak dancer of Banaras, Gharana Arjun Mishra. “It is a great pleasure to perform on the stage of “Sawai Gandharva” and we are indeed honoured to be a part of it,” said the duo. They started their performance with Upaj followed by Ramkrishna Stuti.
Another attraction of the day two of the festival was first timer vocalist Prasad Khaparde. He began his renditions with raga Multani and sung a Bhajan Brij ke Nandala. Suyog Kundalkar accompanied on harmonium and Bharat Kamat on tabla. Famous singer Devaki Pandit was scheduled to perform after Khaparde but owing to ill health she could not perform. Mohan Darekar performed in place of Pandit. Darekar, disciple of Pt Jeetendra Abhisheki enthralled the audience with raga Gavati. As a tribute to Bharat Ratna Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Darekar sang a famous Bhajan Sant Bhar Pandharit. Sudheer Nayak (harmonium) and Arvind Kadgaonkar (tabla) accompanied Darekar. Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s disciple Shreekant Deshpande sang raga Puriya Kalyan and a Bhajan Maze Maher Pandhari, immortalised by Pt Bhimsen Joshi. Renowned vocalist Malini Rajurkar was to perform in the night. Meanwhile, vocalist Vyankatesh Kumar was awarded with the Late Vatsalabai Joshi award on Friday. The award consisting of Rs 25,000 and a citation is given in the memory of Vatsalabai Joshi, who was Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s wife.
