NEW DELHI: Over 50 artistes took part in ‘Beyond Barriers’, an event organised by renowned tabla maestro and composer Sovon Hazra, who has attempted in his own way to go beyond conventional music.
The chief guest of the evening was Justice Siddharth Mridul of Delhi High Court and special guests were eminent sitarists Padmabhushan Pandit Debu Chaudhuri, Gaurav Majumder, and Prateek Chaudhuri, and renowned golfer Gaurav Ghai.
The unique musical effort with dancers, singers and the SKY band was aimed at creating an atmosphere which goes beyond language, religion and other geographical boundaries which tend to separate people.
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The two-hour concert featured a unique symphony in the form of vocal music, the melody on tablas, creative Kathak dance and distinctive fusion music by the SKY group – which surmounts conventional musical definitions.
The evening commenced with ‘Mangalacharan’ – a creative dance item performed by students of Sur Chandam on Rabindranath Tagore’s melody conducted by Juthika Dey. This was followed by a Bandish of Indian Classical of Vocal Chorus performed by students of UMAK, New Delhi, conducted by Priyanka Mukherjee.
A Tabla Duet was presented by students of Sovon Hazra–Raghav Ghai and Bisman Singh, followed by a Tandav Nritya presented in kathak style by students of Juthika Dey
‘Navarang – Tabla Melody’ gave a new dimension in Tabla by students of Sovon Hazra, conducted and conceived by him. This was followed by a vocal and instrumental Symphony through live music and dance conceived and composed by Hazra and arranged by Smarajit Sen.
The classical vein was broken by a Western Jazz Vocal presented by Alankrita Bari and the finale SKY Fusion presentation. This was an eclectic mix of Classical music and Fusion by Hazra on Tabla and Cajon, Mridangam by Kesavan, Flute by Mayank Raina, Keyboard Zafar Mirza, Sitar by Smarajit Sen and Vocals by Guest Artistes Anirban Bhattacharyya and Priyanka Mukherjee
With more than 30 years of professional experience in the field of performing arts along with the SKY band, Hazra has successfully organized several musical concerts over the past 15 years. The goal is to focus on performing the complex forms of music in a way that is palatable to all class of people and to create the right platform for young and talented artists and musicians through these concerts.
Hazra says culture is the base of any society and strongly believes that if at least one person in every family would have learnt Indian classical music, this country would never have been partitioned as Indian music goes beyond castes, religions, social status etc.
Born in a traditional Musical Family in Kolkata in 1966 and trained in tabla by the late Pandit Biswanath Bose of Kolkata (Banaras Gharana), Pandit Kumar Bose and Pandit Jayanta Bose in Kolkata, he shifted based to Delhi in 1977.
His musical talent attracted organisers nationally and he performed solo and also accompanied many great musicians like Padma Shri Begum Parveen Sultana, Bharat Ratna Pandit Ravi Shankar, Padma Bhushan Pandit Debu Chaudhury, Pandit Deboyoti Bose and many more.
He started his first Classical Fusion Musical group “SKY” in early 2003. Sky performed all over India with great acceptance and success. Medias including the print media and the electronic media were forced to cover their performances. At SKY, he tries to achieve the dynamics of music that stretches far beyond thinking, to the realm of feeling and creating bliss.
The melody is created through various ragas taken from the rich heritage of Indian classical music, blending with western harmony. The artistes play instruments such as the Sitar, Shehnai, Hawaiian guitar, Tabla, Mridangam, Spanish guitar, the African percussion instrument- Cajon.
The effortless amalgamation of Indian ragas such as Raga Bairagi, Kalawati, Hamasadhwani, Hemavati etc. with the notes of western instruments illustrates SKY’s musical genius. Each composition is weaved to provide a distinct character to the compositions.
