Dhrupad singers to popularise the music form at an event

An institution that imparts lessons in

dhrupad

is organising an event in Kolkata on March 13 where Vidushi Ashoka Dhar, woman dhrupad singer, and son Rishabh Dhar,

pakhawaj

player, will perform. Students of both the artistes will perform at the event too. “It is a programme of our institution and we are glad to be able to bring this to the audience. Dhrupad is the source of Indian classical music and my mother has been the first woman to have taken and imparted lessons in it for the past 45 years. She has performed at all major global festivals. After dhrupad comes khayal and all khayal singers have to learn dhrupad first. I play pakhawaj, which is the oldest north Indian percussion drum. Later, this was divided into two and

tabla

came into its present-day form. At the event, I will play pakhawaj as an accompanying instrument with the dhrupad performance,” said Rishabh.

Some of the performers at the event include Ahiri Dhar, Amruta Vyawahare, Indrani Batabyal and other students of the institution. The guest performer will be Partha Pratim Roy on

sitar

and Ashis Roy Choudhury on tabla. In this programme, people will witness three generations of artistes performing dhrupad.

Some of the eminent dignitaries invited for the evening are chief guest

Gauri Basu

, director EZCC,

Sudarshan Chakraborty

, Japanese consulate general Masayuko Taga, Sarabjit and Rupa Chakraborty, Chandra Surana, Sunil Bhandara , Rajesh Gupta and Sayan Bhattacharya, among others.