Canada's first all-night concert



 Pt. Ramesh Misra, playing in a meditative mood ,strumming the sarengi




 Founder of Chhandayan, Samir Chatterjee in a sombre mood as he gets warmed up for his solo tabla performance



An array of world-acclaimed artists of Indian classical music enthrall CanadiansCanada’s first all-night concert a huge success

StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-Toronto, November 17:-In keeping with the longstanding Indian tradition, the first, all-night concert of Indian classical music held at St. Andrew’s Church, Toronto, enthralled, energized and entertained an audience of connoisseurs and non-connoisseurs of the Indian classical music, this past Saturday, (Nov 13).


As world-acclaimed artists performed to standing ovations and loud applauses at the historic and awe-inspiring venue, audiences of different backgrounds – over fifty percent non-Indian - savoured classical India music that the artists have spent decades perfecting. It was a unique event that brought a piece of the rich, Indian cultural heritage to music enthusiasts of multicultural Toronto.
What was different about this event was the all-night aspect of it, making it a rare dusk-to-dawn affair that drew people of non-Indian origin out of love of classical music and curiosity to experience a nightlong concert. The meditative moods created by the inimitable orchestration of percussion, strings and  wind instruments, the resounding and energizing drums – miridingam and tabla and melodious rendering of classical ragas by vocalists, made it a memorable event.

The concert took off at 8:00 pm sharp with a recital by the renowned Pt. Pandit Ramesh Misra, a phenomenon in the field of Indian classical music and a master of the most difficult and unique string instruments sarangi. Gauri Guha, the Canadian classical vocalist then followed with Luna Guha, her daughter on the harmonium. The first session ended with a captivating solo performance by Pt. Swapan Choudhary on the tabla and Pt. Ramesh Misra, once again on the sarangi.

As mid-night rolled around, Alam Khan’s sarod enchanted the audience followed by an array of artists. The highlight of this session was Jasrangi, a duet or jugalbandhi vocal recital by Pta. Tripti Mukherjee & Shuman Ghosh singing Raag Jaijaiwanti Todi and Raaga Charukeshi to an enthralled audience. With Samir Chatterjee  and Dibyarka Chatterjee  on the tabla, and Amit Arya and Nilesh Nadkarni on the harmonium, this was an outstanding performance that received a standing ovation from the  audience.

At the early hours of the morning, Maestro Shashank on the bamboo flute, accompanied by the mirdingam of Prof Trichy Sankaran, founding director of Indian music studies at the York university ,  and the tabla of Samir Chatterjee ,   collaborated for  a scintillating performance that took the concert to its high-point, leaving the audience spellbound.

 It was indeed a memory to cherish and a music performance to savour as the beats, rhythm and melody will continue to linger on the minds of the audience for a long time to come.

Next year's all-night concert is scheduled to take place on September 24 at St. Andrew's Church in Toronto.