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BHUBANESWAR: The 16th Rajarani Music festival started on the Rajarani shrine premises here Thursday. The magnificent eleventh century temple came alive with the entertaining performances of the doyens of Indian classical music. The festival was inaugurated by Sangeet Natak Akademi vice- president Ramhari Das in the pres- ence of Orissa tourism director Nitin Bhanudas Jawale and Sangeet Natak Akademi secretary Bijay Jena.
The first performance of the evening by instrumentalist Ramesh Chandra Das on violin and Srinivas Satpathy on flute regaled the audiences. The artiste first performed on Bhopali, followed by Mishra kafi. Interacting with Orissa POST, violinst Das said, “It’s an honor to play violin in front of such a large crowd. I am overwhelmed to see youngsters listening to classical music with rapt attention these days. It’s my privilege to play be-
fore the connoisseurs of music and it’s a wonderful feeling to play along with Srinivas Satpathy’’. Flautist Srinvas Satpathy said, “The feeling is mutual and it is an honor to perform at the Rajarani temple.
This platform is bigger and better and prestigious too’’. The concluding event of the performance received a huge round of applause from the au- dience. What followed is Carnatic vocal by Sanjay Subrahmanyan who is a renowned vocalist who has performed all over the coun- try. His music style was conveyed with the fluidity of taal and swara and everyone tuned into his music with great enthusiasm. The show was compered by Vedula Ramakrishna and Sangita Gosain. Eventually, the flower bedecked ancient temple was overpowered with Darbari gayan. The colourfully decorated temple, its garden and the musical event forced every passerby to stand and listen and enjoy the festival. The three-day musical event will culminate January 20.