Dehradun CHALLENGE
The 10th day of Virasat started with The Vintage And Classic Car And Bike Rally held in the B.R. Ambedkar Stadium, Kaulagarh Road. The route began from B.R. Ambedkar Stadium, going through Garhi Cantt, Pacific hills, Dela Ram Chowk, Clocktower and circling back to the starting point. The Chief Guest, DGP Ashok Kumar of Uttarakhand police, conducted the flag off. A few known faces like Ravinder Singh, Dr S. Farooq, and Vijay Aggarwal graced the event. Mr Ravinder Singh showcased eleven scooters, including models from Vespa and Lambretta; Kunal Arora brought in a Jawa Twin, Noor Mohammad displayed a World War 2 BSA, while Dr Farooq brought in six cars (Chevrolet, Willys, Nissan Jonga, Standard, Ford and Austin). The oldest model was a “Chevrolet”, dating back to 1926, presented by Dr S. Farooq.
The first performance of the evening was by Saniya Patankar. Born in a family of Music lovers, Saniya’s talent was discovered by her parents at the tender age of 3, when she started playing songs on the harmonium. Even as a child, she understood Swar and Laya well. Her father is a violin player, her mother is a Music lover, and her brother, Sameep Kulkarni, is a disciple of Sitar Maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez.
Saniya received blessings from Ganasaraswati Kishoritai Amonkar at the age of six and started learning classical music from Smt. Lilatai Gharpure (senior disciple of Smt. Hirabai Badodekar). Saniya’s first performance was in front of the legendary Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki, at the age of 12 and that time she created a long-lasting impression on the audience. Saniya had the privilege to learn under the able guidance of renowned senior vocalist Dr Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana. She was trained under Ashwiniji with a comprehensive Gharana Talim for 12 years.
She is a “Sangeet Visharad” with distinction and a gold medalist in M.COM. Further, she also completed the Company Secretary Course. Her hard work, perseverance, and love for music contributed to proving herself in both musical and academic fields. Saniya recently released an album “Rasiya” which was dedicated to Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar ji.
She started the program with Raga Khambawati, composed by Gaan Saraswati Kishori Amonkar ji, in which she presented two bandish and one sargam geet. Later she performed a Tappa/Hori in semi classical style. She was accompanied by Mithilesh Jha ji on Tabla, Zakir Dhoulpuri ji on Harmonium and Yogesh ji on Tanpura. Next, she presented a Tappa from Punjab and a Hori composed by Pt. Bindadeen Maharaj and a Dadra towards the end .
The night echoed melodies by Pravin Godkhindi. He is an Indian classical Hindustani flute (bansuri) player. He has mastered both the Tantrakari and Gayaki styles of playing the flute. He is a ranking artist in Hindustani bansuri at Akashvani (AIR).
He trained with Gurus Pandit Venkatesh Godkhindi and Vidwan Anoor Ananth Krishna Sharma.
He is an engineer by profession, but music has always been his passion, and that’s what he has pursued since childhood. Moreover, he is the first Indian Flautist to perform on the eight-foot contrabass flute. He is the first Indian to represent Bansuri at the World Flute Festival held in Mendoza, Argentina.
He was conferred many titles for his proficiency in playing the Flute like Surmani, Naada-Nidhi, Sur Samrat, Kalapraveena etc. He has performed with many eminent musicians all over the world.
Pravin Godkhindi was accompanied by Shubh Maharaj on Tabla and by his son Shadaj Godkhindi on flute. His first performance is Raga Bhoopali. Followed by, Rupak and teen taal. His jugalbandi was in the form of sawar samvad.
REACH was established in 1995 in Dehradun and has continued to organise the Virasat Festival ever since. Their aim is simply to preserve the value and essence of Indian art, culture and heritage and to bring these cultural values to the masses. Virasat has been instrumental in reviving many rural arts which were once on the verge of extinction due to a lack of an audience. The festival has played an essential role in preserving and reviving our village’s traditions, music, dance, crafts, painting, sculpture, theatre, storytelling, traditional cuisine, etc. and bringing them into practice in these modern times, because of which our classical and contemporary arts have started being recognised once again.
Virasat 2022 promises to mesmerise you and take you on an unforgettable and enthralling musical and cultural journey.
