The four-day Shriram Shankarlal Music Festival 2019, one of the oldest festivals of classical music in modern India, begins today at Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) Lawns on Copernicus Marg.
The festival holds special significance this time since apart from the veterans in the field, it will also feature maestros of the present generation. So along with the celebrated names like Biswajit Roy Chowdhary (Sarod), Rakesh Chaurasia (Flute), Rahul Sharma (Santoor) and Kaushiki Chakraborty (Vocals), there will be younger artists like Sabir Khan and Manjusha Patil premiering this time.
This year’s festival will also feature established maestros such as Rajan-Sajan Misra and Shahid Parvez Khan. The grand finale will be by the iconic Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj in an exclusive morning session for the first time, on March17.
Founded 72 years ago, Shriram Shankarlal Music Festival is an iconic dais for the oldest music festival in the country that is successfully carrying forward traditions of the Indian classical performing art. The festival owes its inception to an All Night Musical Soirée organised by the SBKK founder Sumitra Charat Ram on the eve of country’s first Independence Day, August 15, 1947.
Some of the greatest names of Indian classical music of that time, including Ustad Allauddin Khan, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pt. Samta Prasad participated enthralled the audience till the wee hours of the morning back then. The success of the soiree led to the setting up of Jhankar Music Circle, which started holding monthly music concerts apart from the annual classical music festival.
After the formation of Bharatiya Kala Kendra in 1952, the Sir Shankarlal Foundation (set up in the memory of Sir Shankarlal) started supporting the annual music festival. It then came to be called Shankarlal Music Festival. Over the years, it became one of the most prestigious classical events in the country.