The 16th ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata began at the Aldeen lawns on Friday, January 16, 2009. In pursuance of its aims to promote, preserve, propagate and present the heritage of Hindustani Raga Sangeet, this year’s Sammelan had been planned as a tribute to the age-old Indian tradition of teaching - the Guru-Shishya Parampara, the methodology that has been used at the Academy for the last 30 years. Mr Nazeeb Arif, Vice President, Corporate Communications Department, ITC Ltd, was the Chief Guest, while ITC-SRA gurus Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan and Vidushi Girija Devi came to the dais to light the inaugural lamp. The coveted ITC Award was presented to Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan, a senior Shehnai player of Kolkata. In his acceptance speech, the Ustad praised the commendable work done by the Academy and hoped that this would continue so that the age-old traditions that are under constant threat in the present-day scenario, would remain alive.

On Friday, the evening began with a vocal performance by Kumari Manali Bose, disciple of ITC-SRA guru Pandit Arun Bhaduri. She has been an ITC-SRA scholar since June 2006. The young vocalist began with khayals in Raga Marwa, the first set to vilambit ektala ‘Jhajhana mora jhanakayee’, followed by another set to drut teentala ‘Bandhori bandhanawad’, followed by a tarana in drut teentala. She then presented a tappa in Mishra Kafi, ‘Ho mian bejanewale’. She was accompanied on the tabla by Shri Sandip Kumar Ray Chaudhuri, while ex-scholar Shrimati Rupashree Bhattacharya played the harmonium. Her performance was followed by a shehnai recital by ITC Awardee Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan, who began with alap, jod, gat in teentala and jhala, in Raga Gorakh Kalyan. He concluded with a dhun. Shri Samar Saha accompanied him on the tabla, while his son provided shehnai support. This was followed by a vocal recital by ITC-SRA Guru Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar with his disciples Samarth Nagarkar and Sameehan Kashalkar. Samarth has been an ITC-SRA scholar since July 2003, while Sameehan became a scholar in June 2003. The artiste began with khayals in Raga Sampurna Malkauns ‘Baraja rahi’, set to vilambit teentala and ‘Kita dhundana jaun’ in drut teentala. This was followed by khayals in Raga Shahana ‘More aae kunwar kanhaee’ in jhaptala and ‘Mandirwa mein mori aaj’ in drut ektala. He concluded with ‘Karan mori lagi’ set to teentala in Raga Bhairavi. He was accompanied by Shri Swapan Mukherjee on the tabla and Shri Jyoti Goho on the harmonium.

The second day’s programme began with a sarod recital by Shri Abir Hossain, ITC-SRA scholar since March 2002, disciple of Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta. He played alap, jod, vilambit & drut teentala gats and jhala in Raga Shudh Sarang. He was accompanied on the tabla by Shri Samar Saha. Next to perform was ITC-SRA guru Pandit Arun Bhaduri with his disciple Adarsh Saxena, a scholar of the Academy since October, 2005. He began his performance with khayals in Raga Bhimpalasi, ‘Bari beguman na karie’ set to ektala and ‘Karam karo more sai’ set to teentala. He then presented khayals in Raga Hansadhwani ‘Lagi lagan pati sakhi sanga’, set to teentala and ‘Khan pan sudh budh sab bisar gairi ali’ in drut ektala He concluded with a dadra ‘Tadpe bin balam mora jiya’. He was accompanied by Shri Tarak Saha on the tabla and Shri Jyoti Goho on the harmonium. The next item was a tabla recital by Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, disciple of late Pandit Jnan Prokash Ghosh, Expert Committee Member when the Academy was founded. He presented teentala, with innumerable variations including tishra jati, peshkar, qaida of Punjab & Lucknow gharanas, qaida rela of Benaras gharana, gat, tukra and chakradhar to name a few. The nagma in Raga Madhuwanti was provided by Shri Ramesh Mishra, while his disciple Rupak Bhattacharya provided tabla support. After a short interval that evening, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan presented a vocal recital, with vocal support by his disciples Arshad Ali Khan and Sandip Bhattacharya. Arshad has been a scholar of the Academy since 1992, when he was but a child, while Sandip became a scholar in 2003. The artiste began with khayals in Raga Puriya Kalyan, ‘Ras ke bhare dekhe tore nain’ set to vilambit jhumra tala and a tarana in teentala. He concluded with the popular bandish ‘Koyelia kook sunawe’ in Mishra Khamaj. He was accompanied by Shri Gopal Mishra on the tabla and Shrimati Rupashree Bhattacharya on the harmonium. After this was the sarod and sitar jugalbandi by ITC-SRA gurus Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta and Pandit Manilal Nag, accompanied on the tabla by Pandit Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay. They played alap, jod, vilambit & drut teentala gat and jhala in Raga Kaunsi Kanhara. The concluding item that evening was Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty’s vocal recital, accompanied by his disciples Anal Chatterjee and Deborshi Bhattacharjee. Both Anal and Deborshi became scholars of the Academy in December 2008, although they have been learning from their guru for several years. He presented khayals in Raga Bihag, ‘Kan mo Karanphool’ in vilambit ektala, ‘Chinta na kar re’ in jhaptala and ‘Ab to rat logi’ in teentala. He concluded with the famous ‘Hari om tatsat’, providing a befitting finale for the Sammelan.