Manipuri and ranjabati with Members of The Dancers guild In Toma

Soorya Dance Festival

The 17th Soorya Dance and Music Festival, held 1-12 October inTiruvanantapuram, featured, as usual,
many celebrities. The dancers performing included Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharatanrityam), Shobhana (Bharatanatyam), Kavita Dwivedi (Odissi), Padma Menon (Kuchipudi), Sangeeta Dash (Odissi), Chitra Visweswaran (Bharatanatyam) and the troupe of the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Academy (Manipuri). The Carnatic musicians performing were Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan (violin), Mani Krishnaswami (vocal) and Vechoor Harihara Subramonia Iyer (vocal). Also performing were Ramesh Narayan, a disciple of Pandit Jasraj (Hvocal), and Amjad Ali Khan
(H-instrumental, sarod).

Pandit Jithendra Abhisheki

In a performing career that has spanned over 30 years. Pandit Jitendra Abhishekhi has unfailingly given his listeners memorable concerts. He is one of those singers whose gayaki is serious, completely free of gimmicks. There is a wholesomeness, too, a quiet no-nonsense approach. You sense a loyalty to tradition, yet you are also aware that this singer has forged a unique gayaki for himself, out of the styles of at least three major gharana-s- Agra, Jaipur and Gwalior. When you meet Abhishekhi, you find him to be very much like his  music: there is the same quiet conviction, the same rugged honesty, and a creativity that is born out of a practical sensibility.