TIO Dehradun
The second day of Virasat Arts’ and Heritage Festival 2022 began with the program ‘Virasat Sadhana’. Virasat Sadhana based on Indian classical singing was performed by 12 children from 12 schools. The children performed on popular ragas of India, whereas some students presented Bharatnatyam and Kathak. Mansa Sharma from Saint Joseph Academy who started the performance won the hearts of the audience with her Bharatnatyam skills. Followed by Nandini Khankwal from Convent of Jesus and Mary and Kathak performances by Shrishti Daveli from Raj Hans Public School and Sneha Biswas from Touch Wood School. Anshika Chauhan from Hill Foundation Group Education concluded the program with a Bharatnatyam dance. All the participants were honored with certificates by Kalpana Sharma, the organizer of Virasat Sadhna.
The cultural evening began with the lighting of the lamp along with Sahana Banerjee’s sitar performance, starting with pure classical music, during which Shubh Maharaj accompanied him on the beat of Tabla. She concluded with Raga Maru Bihag, Raga Tilak Kamod and Raga Mishra Pallu. This was Sahana’s first performance in Dehradun’s Virasat. Sitar maestro Sahana Banerjee belongs to the Rampur Senia Gharana. Sahana was born into a family of musicians and was recognized as an amazingly gifted child at the early age of four. Her father Santosh Banerjee is a renowned Sitar and Surbahar player as well as the former head of the Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. She also received extensive training in vocal music from her famed mother Chhabi Banerjee. Sahana won the Pandit Nikhil Banerjee Challenge Trophy at the Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata in the year 1990 and was awarded the ‘Best Instrumental Instrument’ award. Apart from being a graded artist of All India Radio and Television since 1995, Sahana has also given several prestigious stage performances in India and Europe. Sahana has also worked on a unique project called Dune rive l’utre organized by Radio France.
Day three ended with Dr. Derbashree Bhattacharya Indian Classical Music performance. She started her performances with Raag Malkosh and then narrated a thumri from Raga Soni to the audience. She was assisted by famous harmonium player Paromita and popular tabla players Mithilesh Jha and Yogesh Khetwal, Paras Upadhyay (Tanpura). Dr. Bhattacharya sang swarmandal and finally, a hymn on Raga Parameshwari which took the listeners on a melodious journey.
Dr. Derbashree Bhattacharya is a student of Dr. (Mrs.) M. Vijay Lakshmi of the Faculty of Music and Fine Arts. She holds a doctorate in Indian classical music from the University of Delhi. Dr. Debashree Bhattacharya started learning classical music from various gurus at an early age and learned various forms of music including simple sangeet, Rabindra sangeet, arts, crafts and sculpture. She has performed across the country and has received several awards including ‘The Indian Society of Creative Arts’ in Music and Excellence Awards 2005.
Dr. Derbashree Bhattacharya is also a lyricist and composer. She has taught in an institution like the Academy of Bangla Art and Culture (ABAC) to enrich the Bengali language and preserve the culture. Her passion can be seen in other arts like painting, and sculpture as well as her interest in photography.
About REACH:
REACH was established in 1995 in Dehradun, and since then REACH has been organizing Heritage Festival in Dehradun. The aim is simply to preserve the values of India’s art, culture, and heritage and to bring these cultural values to the masses. Virasat Mahotsav has been instrumental in reviving many rural arts which were on the verge of extinction due to lack of audience. Virasat has played an important role in preserving our village’s tradition, music, dance, craft, painting, sculpture, theatre, storytelling, traditional cuisine, etc., and in bringing it into the modern era, and because of this, our classical and contemporary arts have been revived. Began to be recognized.
