In her words: “I am sitting between two lions so I should let them roar. In Vasanta, the “taal” was “rupak”, and in this the adroit Jayanthi kept the focus on her accompanyists by fast-paced “sawal jawab” China Wholesale Electronic Belt Lighters with each.The next concert was by Waseem Ahmed Khan, grandson of Ustad Ata Hussain Khan of the Agra gharana. Unfortunately, this writer was not able to hear the full concert. Jayanthi, who is a highly intelligent performer who carefully crafts her concerts, wisely focused on the accompanyists; her opening piece was in raga Amritavarshini, in which, turn by turn Sathish and Subhankar kept the rhythm, Adi taal. It was a pleasure to hear three children announce the artistes’ details before each concert, rather than the slick announcement of a professional host.

One of the organisers, Partha, later shared that, “I had requested Jayanthiji to play a slow composition of Muthuswami Dikhshitarin raga Poorvi Kalyan that had inspired Rabindranath Tagore’s robindrasangeet with the same note structure as I thought many in the audience would be amazed,” but Jayanthi correctly decided to let the focus of the concert be on the “laya” rather than the melody. This was breathtaking, with each protagonist excelling himself in presenting tautly executed pieces. The two traditional much heard khayals he sang (“maiyya mori paar karo” and “mathura na jayeeo Kanha”) were dealt with carefully; one admired Waseem’s use of controlled volume during the execution of the typical Agra “taans” in both octaves. The music loving audience of Kolkata has always put their percussionists on a pedestal; in fact many have opined an earlier generation of tabla players of Kolkata have now created a new style, which can be called the Kolkata gharana of tabla. The current trend nowadays of neon multi-coloured lighting, and prominently displayed flashy sponsors’ details detracts from the music.What stood out at this festival was the meticulous attention to detail; from unobtrusively concealing the sound monitors on stage, to the elegant understated muted coloured backdrop. The careful artiste selection with variety as well as worth was admirable.