Swara Samrat Festival Delhi edition opens with young musicians

Updated: July 24, 2026 05:21 pm IST By: Shailaja Khanna

The Swara Samrat Festival, founded 14 years ago in Kolkata in memory of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, has expanded to other cities over the past three years. The second Delhi edition of the festival, held recently, featured only young musicians.

Niloy Ahsan: Dhrupad Vocal Recital

The festival opened with a dhrupad vocal recital by Bangladesh-born Niloy Ahsan, who is currently training under Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar. He previously studied with the Gundecha Brothers.

• Niloy possesses a powerful voice, with an impressive range extending into the mandra saptak.
• He presented Mian ki Malhar, beginning with an expansive 45-minute alap that left barely 10 minutes for the compositions that followed.
• He was accompanied on the pakhawaj by the talented Roman Das.

Time management issues were unfortunate, as Niloy displayed a strong sense of drama in his layakari — which was all too brief. The well-known Chautaal composition ‘Aayi ghata’ was not sung in full, perhaps due to lack of time. The overdrawn alap in the vilambit section also saw Niloy expanding notes and presenting shrutis to the point of dissonance, which was unaesthetic.

Another avoidable distraction was his use of a head mic, uncommon among classical vocalists. It does not allow for volume control and picks up every breath while singing in detail. Niloy had a cold, and blowing his nose a couple of times with the mic picking up every sound was not pleasant.

Ishaan Ghosh: Tabla Recital

The next performance was by Mumbai-based Farrukhabad gharana tabla artiste Ishaan Ghosh. The son of Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Ishaan has been performing since his early teens. Despite being only 26, he displays remarkable polish and maturity on stage.

• His command over the tabla baaj, sense of proportion in presentation, and tremendous dexterity on the instrument are exemplary.
• Accompanied by Delhi-based sarangi player Mudassir Khan, Ishaan performed in teentaal.
• He gradually built momentum, presenting an impressive array of compositions drawn from the Delhi, Ajrada, Lucknow, Banaras, and Farrukhabad traditions.

When Ishaan played a composition by Mian Bakshu, founder of the Lucknow gharana of tabla, it underscored the importance of provenance in sustaining the continuity of the Indian classical tradition. While the tabla tradition carefully preserves the lineage of compositions, their origins are often forgotten in vocal and instrumental music.

Ishaan made an interesting point: each composition has its own tehzeeb of presentation, and playing every composition at an extremely fast pace to display virtuosity is not right.

Mehtab Ali Niazi: Sitar Recital

The concluding artiste of the day was sitarist Mehtab Ali Niazi, accompanied by his brother Khurram on the tabla. Mumbai-based Mehtab, who hails from the vocal Bhendi Bazaar gharana, draws inspiration from Ustad Vilayat Khan’s sitar style. He too played Mian ki Malhar.

• A polished performer with evident riyaz, Mehtab is perhaps yet to attain complete command over raga exposition.
• His treatment of Malhar in the alap and jor leaned more on phrases than on a seamless unfolding of the raga.
• He lends novelty to his concerts; this time, he played jhala in different beats rather than the usual four-beat ‘seedha’ and ‘ulta’ jhala.
• All his compositions were set to Jhaptaal, including an appealing tarana.

Khurram was outstanding in the drut section, at times drawing attention away from his brother.

Photo credits: Courtesy: Swara Samrat Festival