Since its debut in Kolkata in 2022, the Annapurna Devi Foundation staged, for the first time, a two-evening classical music festival featuring young but highly promising musicians. The programme Navonmesh was conducted at Mahanayak Uttam Manch.

The first evening featured sitarist Deepshankar Bhattacharjee. He captivated with his rendition of raga Bhim Palasi. Prashanta Dey Roy accompanied on the tabla. Vocalist Songborti Das performed raga Gavti, Jayjayanti, followed by a Mirzapuri Kajri. Aarchik Banerjee played the tabla, and Jyotirmoy Banerjee played the harmonium. The final performer of the evening was Rupak Bhattacharjee, a skilled disciple of Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, a top-grade artist with All India Radio and Doordarshan, performed a tabla solo in teentaal. Hiranmoy Mitra accompanied them on Harmonium.

The second evening kicked off with a vocal rendition by vocalist Arjun Roy. He rendered raga Marva and Kedar. Amit Chatterjee accompanied them on tabla, and Dr. Kamalaksha Mukherjee played the Harmonium.

The second performance was a Sitar-Sarod duet by Snehesh Nag (son and disciple of eminent sitarist Pt. Sugato Nag) and Swarnendu Mondal (an ITC Sangeet Research Academy scholar). Anjishnu Mukherjee, son of Vidushi  Indrani Mukherjee and Apurva Mukherjee, accompanied them on tabla. They presented raga Desh and then Manjh Khambaz.

The concluding performance of the evening was a Santoor performance by Dr. Shantanu Gokhale (disciple of Santoor maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma). He played raga Ragesree and concluded with a Pahadi Dhun. Debjit Patitundi gave wonderful support on tabla.

Korak Basu anchored the musical event on both days.

Priyanka Dutta