Kolkata :

Some of the country’s best-known young women performers have come forward to form the first ever ensemble of Indian classical music to “celebrate womanhood”.

Vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty and her ensemble ‘Sakhi’ will make their debut at Kalamandir on January 20.

“Sakhi means friend. We will tell stories of womanhood through music and dance. It is our humble effort to pay tribute to the Indian women — Ganga, Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi, Draupadi, Kunti, Sita, Radha and Meera — whose contribution to Indian music and dance remains as anonymous as their existence,” says Kaushiki, who is also the producer of the project.

But, is it really essential to form a women-only band to celebrate womanhood?

“Most of the legends in the classical music fraternity are male. We respect them. We are not trying to establish a counter platform. But, who else can portray womanhood better than women themselves?” insists a member of the group.

Shaoni Talwalkar, the daughter of tabla player Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and vocalist Bidushi Padma Talwalkar, will be on the tabla. Mahima Upadhyay, daughter of pakhwaj player Pandit Ravi Shankar Upadhyay, will play the pakhwaj. Debopriya Chatterjee, a disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, will play the flute. Bidushi N Rajam’s granddaughter Nandini Shankar will be on the violin, while Pandit Birju Maharaj’s disciple Bhakti Deshpande will perform Kathak.

Together, they will perform diverse genres of traditional repertoires of Hindustani and Carnatic music, such as khayal, thumri, dadra, chaiti, hori, kajari, tarana, tillana and bhajan, and kathak to explore the diverse spectrum of womanhood.

“Here we are together only for fusing various elements of Indian music, but nothing non-Indian,” says flautist Debopriya, who arrived in the city from Mumbai on Sunday.

“My challenge is to present a new interpretative form of classical music to the audience without diluting the standards by any means. I was never interested in forming a group just for its sake. But in this project, Kaushiki the girl and Kaushiki the singer will come together. We have programmes of our group lined up in Mumbai, Europe and America in the next few months. But I chose Kolkata to be the venue for our debut because of my emotional attachment with the city,” says Kaushiki.

“Kaushiki was actually inspired by Ustad Zakir Hussain in forming the musical group. Zakir bhai loves my daughter like her own daughter. She has formed the first women’s group of classical music in the country. On my part, I always wanted her to understand the real value of our music. I believe that the values that I and my wife have instilled in her will help her remain on track. She will not deviate from the core values of the purest forms of our music in whatever way she experiments,” assures Kaushiki’s father Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Tathagata Ray Chowdhury, TNN /January 19th, 2015