Swara Samrat festival

Swara Samrat festival (also known as SSF) is a four-day annual mega festival of Indian classical music and dance held during the winters in Kolkata, India. This festival is the brainchild of Sarod maestro Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, his vocalist wife, Manasi Majumder and their son Indrayuddh Majumder, who is also a brilliant Sarod player.[1] The festival is dedicated to Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.[2][3] Indian Classical Music and Dance Legends such as Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Aashish Khan, Dr. Girija Devi, Begum Parveen Sultana, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Guru Karaikudi Mani, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Sanjay Mukherjee, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Ustad Shujaat Khan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar,  Pandit Kushal Das, Pandit Rajendra Gangani, Guru Sujata Mohapatra,  Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Pandit Bickram Ghosh, Pandit Tanmoy Bose and Kaushiki Chakraborty are some of the artists who have previously performed in this festival.[2]

Swara Samrat festival
GenreIndian classical music & dance
Location(s)Kolkata, India
Years active2013–present
Founded byShree Ranjani Foundation Trust

Background
The festival was initially planned as an event to commemorate the 90th birth anniversary of Ali Akbar Khan (left), but after the death of Pandit Ravi Shankar the organizers decided to dedicate it to Ravi Shankar (right) too.

Swara Samrat festival started as a two-day festival of Indian Classical music & dance on 5 & 6 January 2013, featuring some of the greatest living icons of Indian classical music & dance before a 3500 plus audience each day at Nazrul Manch, Kolkata. The festival was initially planned as a festival to celebrate the 90th Birth Year of Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009). Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar was informed about the event and had expressed his joy and support. But just a month before this festival, the Sitar icon breathed his last (11 December 2012). After his demise, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust decided to dedicate this festival to the Sitar legend too.[2][3][4] The Majumdars called this festival a dedication to "The Immortal Duo – Swara Samrat Ali Akbar Khan and Bharat Ratna Ravi Shankar".[5] Both of them had learnt from the same Guru and had performed exemplary duet concerts across the globe, which are still regarded as the greatest of North Indian Instrumental Jugalbandis (Duets). The full house was overwhelmed by this grand gesture. Every of the audience wanted this festival to repeat. Swara Samrat Festival received enormous love and affection not only from the audience but also from the performers and sponsors. Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust decided to continue this festival annually and from then onward the festival is held during the winters every year.

Tejendra Narayan has really worked hard to put this concert together. I have heard no one came forward to help him out, which is unfortunate. But such an effort will always be remembered.

Aashish Khan[6]

Swara Samrat - The Title

Acharya Baba Ustad Allauddin Khan, who is regarded as one of the greatest saints of Indian Classical Music in 19th & 20th Centuries, who had founded the Maihar Senia Gharana, had gifted his son Ali Akbar Khan, the title Swara Samrat (meaning Emperor of Melody).[7] Ustad Ali Akbar Khan had won so many awards and titles across the globe, yet he loved this special title gifted by his legendary father the most.

So Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust has named the festival Swara Samrat Festival to honour not only Ustad Ali Akbar Khan but also his father Acharya Baba Ustad Allauddin Khan.

Swara Samrat Festival - Time Period

Initially Swara Samrat Festival was a two-day festival. It used to be held in the months of January/February every year. But after the 4th season, which was held on 10 & 12 January 2016, SSF wanted to fix the time period of the festival to the month of December. So in the same year 2016, the 4th season was held in January and 5th season was in December. Since then, SSF is maintaining the December time frame. 2018 onward, SSF has become a 4-day festival of Indian Classical Music & Dance.[8]

Swara Samrat Ratna

In the inaugural season, i.e., in 2013, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust awarded the first Swara Samrat Ratna to the legendary Tabla maestro-teacher Pandit Shankar Ghosh for his enormous contribution to the art of Tabla playing and also for his long and close association with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan which resulted to some of the most famous and iconic performances together (both in live concerts and in studios).

In 2014, the second Swara Samrat Ratna was awarded to another such legendary Tabla maestro, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri for the same reason.

In 2019, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust awarded the third Swara Samrat Ratna to Ustad Aashish Khan for his Lifelong and Dedicated Service to Hindustani Classical Music at the Highest Level.

SSF Alaap

The entire Indian Classical Music & Dance fraternity needs to promote the successors of this art form. Rarely one can spot a deserving youngster performing in a top notch Indian Classical Music & Dance Festival. So, in 2018, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust came up with the idea of promoting a set of the best of the young maestros every year in their flagship event SSF but as a separate sub-event called SSF Alaap dedicated only to them.

The first SSF Alaap was held in 2018 on 8 & 9 December at Madhusudan Manch, Kolkata, just one week before the main SSF (which was held on 15 & 16 December 2018).  With the success of this new venture SSF Alaap, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust has decided to repeat it annually a week before the main Swara Samrat Festival.

SSF Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2018, SSF honored Janaab Abul Khair Litu  (Chairman, Bengal Foundation, Bangladesh) with the SSF Lifetime Achievement Award for his enormous contribution to the propagation, promotion and facilitation of proper training of Indian Classical Music & Dance as well as other forms of Arts across Bangladesh.[9]

In 2019-20, Pandit Vijay Kichlu, an eminent musician, musicologist, music producer and founder of ITC Sangeet Research Academy was honored with the SSF Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong contribution to the entire fraternity of Indian classical music and dance across India and abroad.[10]

The city is the Mecca of classical music. Those like the Swara Samrat Festival are valuable additions in taking the tradition forward.

Begum Parveen Sultana[11]

One Star Introduces Another Star on Stage

SSF has a very unique way of introducing the stars on the dais. One star (who is not performing on that day of the festival) introduces another star on the dais when the latter takes the stage for performance. Through this, the audience see numerous beautiful and rarest of moments when these stars greet each other on the dais.[12]

Star Studded Audience

The vision of SSF is to reach the extremely rich heritage of Indian Classical Music & Dance to the widest range of audience. To facilitate this, SSF invites cultural icons not only from classical music and dance, but also from a wide variety of fields namely, popular and contemporary music, contemporary dance, cinema, sports, business, social welfare and politics. Several faces from those diverse fields have become regular audience of SSF as well as the guests in SSF Press Conference, namely, Ranjit Mullick, Goutam Ghose, Koel Mullick, Alokananda Roy, Mamata Shankar, Tanusree Shankar, Chandroday Ghosh,  Arindam Sil, Arpita Chatterjee, Srikanta Acharya, Debajyoti Misra, Manomay Bhattacharya, Srijato, Subhamita Banerjee, Anupam Roy, Joy Sarkar, Raghab Chatterjee and others.

Performances

Some of most prominent classical musicians of India performed in this musical extravaganza.[3] Legendary Tabla Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain has performed for 7 consecutive seasons right from its inception in 2013.

Season 8 (1st, 7th & 8th December, 2019, and 13th February, 2020)[13][14][15]
  • Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar (Sarod) & Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla)
  • Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty (Vocal) with Sandip Ghosh (Tabla) & Pt. Ajay Joglekar (Harmonium)
  • Pt. Kumar Bose (Tabla Solo) with Hiranmay Mitra (Harmonium) and Pankaj Mishra (Sarangi)
  • North Indian - Carnatic Rhythm Jugalbandi - Guru Karaikudi Mani (Mridangam) & Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Rahul Sharma (Santoor) with Pt. Ram Kumar Mishra (Tabla)
  • Sujata Mohapatra (Odissi Dance)
  • Ud. Aashish Khan (Sarod) with Pt. Bickram Ghosh (Tabla) & Shiraz Ali Khan (Sarod)
  • Ud. Nishaat Khan (Sitar) with Anubrata Chatterjee (Tabla)
  • Vidushi Arati Ankalikar (Vocal) with Pt. Anandagopal Bandopadhyay (Tabla) and Pt. Jyoti Goho (Harmonium)
  • Pt. Uday Bhawalkar (Dhrupad Vocal)
  • Flute-Violin Jugalbandi - Pt. Ronu Majumdar (Flute) & Atul Upadhyay (Violin) with Pt. Tanmoy Bose (Tabla)
SSF Alaap 2019
  • Kathak Duet - Abhimanyu Lal and Vidha Lal with Zuheb Ahmed Khan (Tabla) and Pankaj Mishra (Sarangi)
  • Abhishek Lahiri (Sarod) with Shubh Maharaj (Tabla)
  • Sanjukta Biswas (Vocal) with Soumen Nandy (Tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Suvendu Banerjee (Harmonium Solo) with Sohon Ghosh (Tabla)
  • Mehtab Ali Niazi (Sitar) with Unmesh Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Aarchik Banerjee (Tabla Solo) with Hiranmay Mitra (Harmonium)

Season 7 (1st, 15th & 16th December, 2018)[16][17][18]
Ustad Zakir Hussain being welcomed by the full house at SSF season 7 in 2018
  • A Rhythm Ensemble - Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla), Naveen Sharma (Dholak),  Anantha Krishnan (Mridangam) & Sabir Khan (Sarangi)[19]
  • Begum Parveen Sultana (Vocal) with Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla) and Pt. Jyoti Goho (Harmonium)
  • Bharatanatyam Duet - Dr. Mallika Sarabhai and Revanta Sarabhai
  • Pt. Rajeev Taranath (Sarod) with Pt. Yogesh Samsi (Tabla)
  • Pt. Venkatesh Kumar (Vocal) with Pt. Samar Saha (Tabla) & Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Hindustani & Carnatic Flute Jugalbandi: Praveen Godkhindi (Hindustani Flute) & Shashank Subramanyam (Carnatic Flute) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla) & Patri Satish Kumar (Mridangam)
  • Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya (Hindustani Guitar) with Pt. Tanmoy Bose (Tabla)
  • Ud. Shujaat Khan (Sitar) with Ud. Sabir Khan (Tabla) and Asif Khan (Tabla)
  • Jayateerth Mevundi (Vocal) with Soumen Sarkar (Tabla) and Sanatan Goswami (Harmonium)
  • Manju Mehta (Sitar) with Ujjwal Bharati (Tabla)
SSF Alaap 2018
  • Kumar Mardur (Vocal) with Debjit Patitundi (Tabla) and Gourab Chatterjee (Harmonium)
  • Kaushik Mukherjee (Sarod) with Rupak Bhattacharjee (Tabla)
  • Debanjan Bhattacharjee (Sarod) with Sandip Ghosh (Tabla)
  • Ayan Sengupta (Sitar) with Soumen Nandy (Tabla)
  • Saberi Misra (Kathak) with Subir Thakur (Tabla), Debashis Sarkar (Vocal) & Sunando Mukherjee (Sarod)
  • Ishaan Ghosh (Tabla) with Hiranmay Mitra (Harmonium)

Season 6 (16th & 17th December, 2017)[20][21]
  • Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla) and Rakesh Chaurasia (Flute)
  • Pt. Rajendra Gangani (Kathak) with Pt. Sanjay Mukherjee (Tabla) and Pt. Fateh Singh Gangani (Tabla& Bol Padhant)
  • Dhrupad Vocal Duet - Gundecha Brothers
  • Ken Zuckerman (Sarod) with Pt. Parimal Chakraborty (Tabla)
  • Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar (Vocal) with Pt. Suresh Talwalkar (Tabla) and Gourab Chatterjee (Harmonium)
  • Purbayan Chatterjee (Sitar) with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla)
  • Kaushiki Chakraborty (Vocal) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Hindustani-Carnatic Mandolin Duet - Snehasish Mozumder (Hindustani Mandolin), U. Rajesh (Carnatic Mandolin), Ojas Adhiya (Tabla) and S.V. Ramani (Mridangam)

Season 5 (17th & 18th December, 2016)
  • Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor) with Ud. Zakir Hussain(Tabla)[22]
  • Pt. Budhaditya Mukherjee (Sitar) with Pt. Abhijit Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla Solo) with Hiranmay Mitra (Harmonium)
  • Ud. Rashid Khan (Vocal) with Pt. Tanmoy Bose (Tabla) and Pt. Jyoti Goho]] (Harmonium)
  • Vocal Duet - Pt. Rajan Mishra and Pt. Sajan Mishra with Pt. Subhen Chatterjee (Tabla) and Sanatan Goswami (Harmonium)
  • Guru Sujata Mohapatra (Odissi)
  • Pt. Partho Sarothy (Sarod) with Pt. Bickram Ghosh (Tabla)

Season 4 (10th & 12th January, 2016)
Vidushi Girija Devi & Pt. Birju Maharaj at SSF Season 4 in 2016
  • Pt. Birju Maharaj (Kathak) with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla)
  • Vidushi Girija Devi (Vocal) with Pt. Gopal Misra (Tabla), Hiranmay Mitra (Harmonium) and Sarwar Hussain (Sarangi)
  • Kathak-Vocal Duet - Pt. Birju Maharaj (Kathak) and Vidushi Girija Devi (Vocal) with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla)
  • Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty (Vocal) with Pt. Yogesh Samsi (Tabla) and Pt. Ajay Joglekar (Harmonium)
  • Pt. Subhankar Banerjee & Pt. Yogesh Samsi with Pt. Ajay Joglekar (Harmonium)
  • Pt. Basant Kabra (Sarod) with Pt. Arup Chatterjee (Tabla

Season 3 (12th, 13th, 14th & 15th February, 2015)[23][24]
  • Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumda (Sarod) with Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla)
  • Vidushi Shubha Mudgal (Vocal) with Pt. Aneesh Pradhan (Tabla) and Sudhir Nayak (Harmonium)
  • Ud. Shahid Parvez (Sitar) with Subhajyoti Guha (Tabla)
  • Vidushi Manasi Majumder (Vocal) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Santoor-Flute Duet by Pt. Tarun Bhattacharya (Santoor) and Pt. Pravin Godkhindi (Flute) with Pt. Bickram Ghosh (Tabla)
  • Pt. Venkatesh Kumar (Vocal) with Pt. Samar Saha (Tabla) & Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Kaushiki Chakraborty (Vocal)

Season 2 (4th & 5th January, 2014)[25]
  • Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla and Percussions), Shankar Mahadevan (Vocal), U. Shrinivas (Mandolin) and V. Selvaganesh (Percussions)
  • Ud. Rashid Khan (Vocal) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla), Pt. Jyoti Goho (Harmonium) & Murad Ali Khan (Sarangi)
  • Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla Solo) with Allarakha Kalavant (Sarangi)
  • Pt. Venkatesh Kumar (Vocal) with Pt. Samar Saha (Tabla) & Rupashree Bhattacharya (Harmonium)
  • Pt. Kushal Das (Sitar) with Pt. Abhijit Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Shahadat Hossain (Sarod) with Pt. Arup Chatterjee (Tabla)

Season 1 (5th & 6th January, 2013)
  • Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla Solo) with Dilshad Khan (Tabla)[3][4][7]
  • Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor) with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla)
  • Pt. Birju Maharaj (Kathak) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla)
  • Vidushi Girija Devi (Vocal) with Pt. Samar Saha (Tabla), Sarwar Hussain (Sarangi) and Gourab Chatterjee (Harmonium)
  • Ud. Aashish Khan (Sarod) with Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri (Tabla) and Shiraz Ali Khan (Sarod)

See also

References
  1. Banerjee, Meena (15 December 2017). "A musical rainbow". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. "Classical legends leave their mark". The Times of India. 8 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  3. "Swara Samrat festival". Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. "Two masters and a tribute". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  5. "Shreeranjani". Tejendra Narayan Majumdar. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  6. "Annapurna Devi is heartbroken: Ustad Aashish Khan Debsharma". The Times of India. 5 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  7. "Ustad Ali Akbar Khan". 21 June 2009. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  8. "Kolkata to witness a four-day Indian classical music concert - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  9. "Abul Khair Litu honoured in Kolkata". The Daily Star. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  10. "Swara Samrat Festival". Musicplus. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  11. "I dont even mind lending my voice to a pop song begum".
  12. Dec 21, Debolina Sen | Updated; 2018; Ist, 12:06. "When Kolkata said 'wah ustad' in awe of his music | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 November 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. সংবাদদাতা, নিজস্ব (3 December 2018). "শুরু হতে চলেছে 'স্বর সম্রাট ফেস্টিভ্যাল ২০১৮'". anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  14. "Swara Samrat Festival to begin its musical journey today - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  15. Banerjee, Meena (19 December 2019). "Swara Samrat Festival saw starlit days, candlelit evenings". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  16. "আলি আকবর খানকে স্মরণ করে শহরে হবে স্বারা সম্রাট ফেস্টিভ্যাল". NDTVMovies.com. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  17. Khanna, Shailaja (28 December 2018). "When gravitas meets virility..." The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  18. "'স্বর সম্রাট উৎসব-২০১৮': শীতের শহরে মায়েস্ত্রোদের সংগীত আরাধনা". Indian Express Bangla (in Bengali). 1 December 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  19. December 18, P. T. I.; December 18, 2016UPDATED; Ist, 2016 00:30. "Ustad Zakir Hussain performs in jugalbandi with santoor king". India Today. Retrieved 2 November 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. Dec 19, Priyanka Dasgupta | TNN | Updated; 2017; Ist, 7:10. "Winter treats lined up for music lovers | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 November 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. Khanna, Shailaja (27 November 2017). "Swar Samrat festival set to enthral City of Joy". The Asian Age. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  22. "Ustad Zakir Hussain performs in 'jugalbandi' with santoor king Shib kumar". The Financial Express. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  23. "Familiar tunes and sweet voices". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  24. Feb 3, Tathagata Ray Chowdhury | TNN | Updated; 2015; Ist, 1:01. "Classical music stalwarts to perform at four-day meet | Kolkata News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 November 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. "Classical music greats came together at Nazrul Mancha for the Swara Samrat Festival organised by Pt Tejendra Narayan Majumdar - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
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