The 146th edition of the Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan — one of the oldest festivals of Hindustani classical music in the world — took off to a flying start at Devi Talab Mandir in the city on Friday. Tribune Correspondent Deepkamal Kaur and photojournalist Sarabjit Singh capture the myriad images on the first day of the three-day gala festival
Melodious sounds of musical instruments resonate through the freezing December nights at Devi Talab Mandir in the city. The audiences brave the cold weather, wrap themselves up in blankets and stay glued to watch the performances of the doyens of classical music till the wee hours of the morning. This is that time of the year for which music aficionados from the city and around wait the whole year. As the music exponents from across the country have already started descending in the hall of the temple, the atmosphere is already charged up and everyone is waiting to enjoy those raga-based rhythmic beats.
The three-day-long Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan hosts 15-20 artistes every year. The sammelan is celebrated every year at the sacred seat of music, which is the Samadhi of the saint and exponent Baba Harivallabh. The traditional sammelan dates back to 1875, which was held at the same venue.
The artistes who regaled the audiences on Friday were shehnai maestro Vikas Babu, dhrupad exponent Uday Bhawalkar, santoor artiste Dr Varsha Agrawal and renowned flautist Pt Ronu Majumdar. Some eminent artistes who are set to perform for the next two days include vocalists Kaushiki Chakraborty and Saniya Patankar, tabla player Sudhir Pandey and sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee.
The mahasabha that organises the sammelan aims to encourage budding musicians and an open competition precedes the festival. But owing to the pandemic, the competition part of the festival has not been included this time again. Instead, a crafts mela was organised at the temple premises in association with the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, wherein 13 stalls of phulkari, jewellery and other traditional items were put on sale. Prior to the sammelan, a havan yagna, too, was performed on Thursday.
Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan begins at Devi Talab Mandir in Jalandhar
{$excerpt:n}
