Rasdhara pays tribute to Sarod maestro Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra

'Rasdhara', an organisation, presented a Hindustani classical concern, to pay tribute to legendary Sarod player late Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra on his 105th birth anniversary. The event was organised on the 27th and 28th of July 2022, in the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. During the event, soulful compositions of Hindustani classical by Narendra Nath Dhar, Madhumita Ray, and Dr Chandrima Majumdar gave the listeners food for thought.

Eminent musicians such as Gaurav Majumdar, Vijay Shankar Mishra, and Subhadra Desai graced the event with their presence.

On the first day, there was a single performance by the senior disciple of Pdt Radhika Mohan, Pt Narendra Nath Dhar. He played a rage raga, Raga Hameer. He was accompanied on the Tabla by Pt. Ram Kumar Mishra of Banaras Gharana. Pdt Narendra performed the Raga Hameer for around 50 mins with many old and traditional compositions of Shahjahanpur Gharana. He performed it in both vilambit and drut tempos.

Next, he sang raagas of the month of Sawan. Pt. Narendra Nath performed two rare ragas, Nat Malhar and Shuddha Malhar with traditional compositions in Drut and Madhya laya. Usually, this raga is not heard on concert platforms. Even Pt. Narendra admitted that he was playing shudh malhar for the first time and dedicated these ragas to his great Guru. He took great care while performing the Malhar ragas as he wanted to do justice to his guru's taleem (teaching). He concluded the evening's performance with Raga Bharavi with 8 unique compositions. The sam(first matra of the tala) of the composition was on a different note in all 8 compositions.

The second day started with a vocal recital by Vidhushi Madhumita Ray. She presented a seasonal raag, Miyan ki Malhar with two traditional compositions. Accompanying her, on the Harmonium was Lalit Sisodiya and on tabla was Utpal Ghosal. She performed Raag Megh, again a seasonal raga for her second performance. Madhumita concluded the performance with a  light classical form, Kajri for the season.

The next performance was by Dr Chandrima Majumdar, who is a disciple of Pt. Narendra Nath Dhar. She continued the event with Raag Des, with the two compositions composed by Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra. She was accompanied on tabla by Durjay Bhowmik. Chandrima says, "This Raag was one of the favourite raags of Pt. Radhika Mohan Maitra."

Ronojit Majumdar, son of Chandrima and disciple of Pt. Narendra Nath Dhar made his debut by paying homage to the great Sarod player. He played a very brief Raag Bharavi. He played the raag with two traditional compositions which were highly appreciated for their precision.