For 1st time, city to host Bal Gandharva festival

NASHIK: Cultural organisation Sanskruti Vaibhav will for the first time organize Bal Gandharva Mahotsav for in the state in Nashik fron February 16-17 in association with the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC). Harmonium player Subhash Dasakkar and classical singer Anand Bhate (Anand Gandharva) will be felicitated on the occasion and seminars by experts in music and cultural programmes will be organised during the two-day fest.
Till date the organisation has conducted such cultural festivals in memory of renowned artists and litterateurs like G D Madgulkar, PL Deshpande, Vidyadhar Gokhale, Kishor Kumar, Dinanath Mangeshkar and others.
This year, Sanskruti Vaibhav is organising Bal Gandharva Mahotsav, along with Maitreya, for the first time in Maharashtra.
"The programme will be organised at Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabhagruha on February 16 and 17 from 6.30 pm onwards," said secretary of the organisation, Arvind Pathak. "Disciple of Pt Bhimsen Joshi and a resident of Pune, Anant Bhate aka Anand Gandharva and well-known harmonium player and disciple of Pt Prabhakar Dasakkar and Utsad Shahid Pervez, Subhash Dasakkar from Nashik will be presented with the Sanskruti Vaibhav Puraskar," he added.
Organisation trustee organisation Ravindra Deodhar said every year they held such functions with a particular topic or personality for free.
"Particularly for the youth, we show the lives of renowned artists. This year, seminars on all Gandharvas, his life, his music and films will be organised," said Deodhar.
Experts from Pune and Mumbai who have studied Gandharva music will present their talents during the two-day event. Pt Anand Bhate, Pt Satyasheel Deshpande, Subodh Bhave, Kaushal Inamdar, Nitin Desai, Ravi Jadhav, Vibhavari Deshpande, Aditya Oak, Chaitanya Kute, Rajiv Paranjape and other artists will be present for the two-day function.