Seven-day music festival in Dharwad in memory of Sitar Ratna from Dec. 1

Renowned artists from across the nation will pay a tribute to Rahimat Khan, while an award instituted in the memory of Ustad Bale Khan will be presented during the music festival

Renowned artists from across the nation will pay a musical tribute during the week-long annual music festival in memory of Sitar Ratna Rahimat Khan in Dharwad from December 1.

An award instituted in memory of Sitar exponent Ustad Bale Khan will also be presented during the music festival.

The Sitar Ratna Samiti is organising the annual music festival and award presentation in association with  Bharatiya Sangeeta Vidyalaya of Dharwad and Sitar Nawaz Ustad Balekhan Memorial Foundation Trust of Bengaluru.

The week-long event will be held at Srijana Ranga Mandir in Dharwad.

According to president of the Sitar Ratna Samiti Raghavendra Ayi and secretary Shafiq Khan, the week-long festival will begin at 5 p.m. and renowned vocalist Pandit Venkatesh Kumar and Santoor exponent Abhay Sopori from Delhi will perform on the inaugural day.

Mr. Ayi has said that the Infosys Sitar Nawaz Ustad Bale Khan Memorial Award 2024 will be presented to Ashwini Bhide Deshpande of Mumbai on December 1.

Editor and Publisher Ramakanth Joshi of Manohar Granthamala will be the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony.

Other awards

During the festival, Ustad Bale Khan Memorial Accompanist Award 2024 will be presented to renowned tabla player Kalinath Mishra and the Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 will be given to Raghavendra Ayi.

Vocalist Ashwini Bhide (Mumbai), Sitar exponent Gopalkrishna B.M. (Benglauru), vocalist Jayateerth Mevundi (Hubballi), sitar exponents Noorjahan Nadaf and Shruti Archak (Dharwad-Jugalbandi), vocalist Pt. Parameshwar Hegde (Bengaluru), flautist S. Akash (Mumbai), violinist Atulkumar Upadhye (Pune), vocalists Kaushik Aithal and Omkar Havaldar (Bengaluru-Jugalbandi), flautist Shashank Subramanyam (Chennai), vocalist Amol Nishal (Pune) will perform during the music festival.

On the concluding day, there will be a Sitar jugalbandi by Ustad Usmaan Khan (Pune) and Ustad Chote Rahimat Khan (Goa) and a vocal jugalbandi by Ritesh Mishra and Rajnish Mishra (New Delhi). During the festival, there will also be an art exhibition by Arma Khan, a press release said.

The Sitar Ratna Samiti was founded in 1982 by Ustad Bale Khan, Sadanand Kanavalli, Raghavendra Ayi, Ananth Harihar, Srinivas Joshi, Ustad Hameed Khan and others. And, ever since it has been organising music festivals.

Published - November 25, 2024 08:11 pm IST