''Swara Samrat festival'' (also known as SSF) is a four-day annual festival of

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

held during the winters in

Kolkata, India Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commerci ...

. This festival is the brainchild of

Sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the swe ...

maestro Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, his vocalist wife, Manasi Majumder and their Sarod player-son Indrayuddh Majumder. The festival is dedicated to Swara Samrat

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he a ...

. Indian Classical Music and Dance Legends such as Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj,

Ustad Zakir Hussain Ustad Zakir Hussain (born 9 March 1951) is an Indian tabla player, composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor. He is the eldest son of tabla player Alla Rakha. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, ...

, Ustad Aashish Khan, Dr. Girija Devi, Begum Parveen Sultana, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Guru Karaikudi Mani,

Ustad Rashid Khan Ustad Rashid Khan (born 1 July 1968) is an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani music tradition. He belongs to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, and is the great-grandson of gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan. He is married to Soma Khan. ...

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tam ...

, Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee, Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar,

Pandit Venkatesh Kumar Pandit M. Venkatesh Kumar (born July 1, 1953) is an Indian Hindustani vocalist. He is best known for his rendition of devotional songs composed by Swami Haridas. Kumar belongs to the Kirana and Gwalior Gharana. Early life and musical traini ...

, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Sanjay Mukherjee,

Ustad Shahid Parvez Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (commonly known as Shahid Parvez, born 14 October 1954) is an Indian classical sitar maestro from the Imdadkhani gharana. He represents the seventh generation of the Etawah Gharana as its primary exponent. He is praised ...

, 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.

Background

Swara Samrat festival started as a two-day festival of Indian classical music and dance on 5-6 January 2013, featuring Indian classical musicians and dancers before a 3500-plus audience each day at Nazrul Manch,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. The festival was initially planned to celebrate the 90th Birth Year of Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009). Bharat Ratna

Pandit Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...

supported the event, but died 11 December 2012, just a month before the festival. After Ratna's death, Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust decided to dedicate this festival to the ''

Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

'' legend too. The Majumdars called this festival a dedication to "The Immortal Duo – Swara Samrat Ali Akbar Khan and ''

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ''Jewel of India'') is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest orde ...

'' Ravi Shankar". Both of them had learnt from the same guru and had performed duet concerts across the globe. The full house, performers and sponsors were overwhelmed by this grand gesture. Shree Ranjani Foundation Trust decided to continue the festival, which is now held every winter.

Swara Samrat - The Title

Acharya Baba Ustad Allauddin Khan, who is regarded as one of the greatest saints of Indian classical music the 19th and 20th centuries and founded the Maihar Senia Gharana, had gifted his son Ali Akbar Khan, the title ''Swara Samrat'' (''meaning Emperor of Melody'').

Swara Samrat Festival - Time Period

Initially Swara Samrat Festival was a two-day festival held in January/February of every year. But after the fourth season, which was held on 10 & 12 January 2016, SSF wanted to move the festival to December. The 2016 season was thus held in January, and the fifth season was in December. The festival currently is a four-day December event.

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. In 2019–20, Pandit Vijay Kichlu, an eminent musician, musicologist, music producer and founder of

ITC Sangeet Research Academy ITC Sangeet Research Academy is a Hindustani classical music academy run by the corporate house, ITC Ltd. It is located in Kolkata, India. Noted musicians associated with the academy include Ulhas Kashalkar, Falguni Mitra, Ajoy Chakrabarty, U ...

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.

Season 8 (1, 7 & 8 December 2019, and 13 February 2020)

*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 The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

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 (1, 15 & 16 December 2018)

* A Rhythm Ensemble - Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla), Naveen Sharma (

Dholak The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The instrument is about 45 cm in length and 27 cm in breadth and is widely used in '' qawwali'', '' kirtan'', ''lavani'' and '' bhangra''. The drum has two differ ...

), Anantha Krishnan (Mridangam) & Sabir Khan (Sarangi) *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 The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

) 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 (16 & 17 December 2017)

*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 Padhant in Hindustani classical music or Indian classical dance refers to the recitation of rhythmic syllables, known as bol, during a performance. The term is derived from the Hindi word ''padhna'', meaning "to read, study or recite". ''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 (17 & 18 December 2016)

*Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor) with Ud. Zakir Hussain(Tabla) *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 - Rajan Mishra, Pt. Rajan Mishra and Pt. Sajan Mishra with Pt. Subhen Chatterjee (Tabla) and Sanatan Goswami (Harmonium) *Guru Sujata Mohapatra (

Odissi Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.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 (12, 13, 14 & 15 February 2015)

*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 (4 & 5 January 2014)

*Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla and

Percussions A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

), Shankar Mahadevan (Vocal), U. Shrinivas (

Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

) and

V. Selvaganesh V. Selvaganesh is an Indian percussionist working in the Carnatic tradition and one of the leading kanjira (south Indian frame drum) players of his generation. He is also known as "Chella S. Ganesh." Career Selvaganesh gained world fame through ...

(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 Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (; born 21 February 1961) is an Indian-American economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Banerjee shared the 2019 Nobel Memorial Priz ...

(Tabla) *

Shahadat Hossain Shahadat Hossain (born: 7 August 1986) is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He made his Test debut in 2005 during Bangladesh's first tour of England. When he came onto the international scene he was cited by then coach Dav Whatmore as the fastest bowl ...

(Sarod) with Pt. Arup Chatterjee (Tabla)

Season 1 (5 & 6 January 2013)

*Ud. Zakir Hussain (Tabla Solo) with Dilshad Khan (Tabla) *Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor) with Pt. Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla) *Pt. Birju Maharaj (

Kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

) with Pt. Subhankar Banerjee (Tabla) * Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (

Flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...

) 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)

References

External links

* {{Hindustani Classical Music page end Music festivals established in 2013 Hindustani classical music festivals Culture of Kolkata Events in Kolkata