Famed vocalist Kishori Amonkar to be honoured with music festival

PANAJI: As a tribute to the contributions made by legendary vocalist

Kishori Amonkar

to Indian classical music, Kala Academy, Panaji, will host the

Kishori

Amonkar Sangeet Mahotsav on April 28 and 29, art and culture minister Govind Gaude told TOI.

The festival will feature some renowned personalities related to

Amonkar

and from the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, a community of musicians to which she belonged.

“The artistes will be finalised shortly. This will be a unique programme apart from Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Sangeet Samaroh. We have chosen most of Amonkar’s disciples and artistes from the Atrauli gharana, where she had learnt sangeet from, to perform at the festival. Artistes from Goa will also perform,” Gaude said.

Eight performances will be presented over a course of two days. The inaugural will be on April 28 at 4.30pm at DMK auditorium, Kala Academy. As a prelude to the event, a talk titled, ‘The rarely heard Kishoritai Amonkar’ hosted by Pt Arun Dravid will be held. Sources said the talk will shed light on some of the untold and unheard stories of the legendary singer.

Amonkar was born to renowned Hindustani classical music vocalist, Mogubai Kurdikar. They are a rare mother-daughter duo to hold the Padma Bhushan. Amonkar was also honoured with the Padam Vibhushan. She was also taught music by gurus from other genres like thumri and ghazals, and from gharanas like Agra and Gwalior. Her obstinacy to translate the ragas into emotions made her music universal.