Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav enthralled music lovers

The 8th ‘Gaanasaraswati Mahotsav’ organised by Natyasampada Pratishthan was held at Mahalaxmi Lawns, near Rajaram Bridge, Pune last month.
Arshad Ali was felicitated with the ‘Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar Yuva Puraskar’, which was instituted last year. This particular award was supported by Belvalkar Kala Manch. (L to R) Ajit Belvalkar, Arshad Ali, Nihar Amonkar, Pt.Raghunandan Panshikar.
The morning session of the third day of the festival began with a blissful vocal performance by Arshad Ali. He performed Raag ‘Miya ki Todi’ and Raag ‘Des’.
Arshad Ali was followed by the performance of vocalist Bhargavi Venkatraman, who is a reputed Carnatic classical artist. She performed Raag ‘Naate’, Raag ‘Varadi’.
The session concluded with a unique performance called ‘Unsung Kishori Tai’, in which Pt. Raghunandan Panshikar and Vidushi Devki Pandit together presented different and unheard compositions of Gaanasaraswati Kishori Amonkar. This performance had a special focus on Ghazals showing Kishoritai’s versatile creativity.