Five debuting solo artistes to watch out for this year

The Bengal Classical Music Festival has brought nearly every who's who of Indian classical music to the Dhaka Audience over the last few years, and every year the organisers have added new feathers to the proverbial cap of the grand festival. This year, despite organising the festival on a month's notice after its original plan had to be scrapped, Bengal Foundation has managed to bring in almost the entire originally-scheduled lineup, and that naturally includes some big names of Indian Classical Music performing for the first time on the festival's stage. Here are the five most exciting solo-performing debuts to look forward to at this year's festival -- that begins December 26.

Pt. Kaivalya Kumar, khyal vocals (performing on Day 5)

A third-generation member of a family representing the prestigious Kirana Gharana of Indian classical music, Pt. Kaivalya Kumar is as blue-blooded as classical musicians come. His grandfather, Pt. Ganpatrao Gurav was one of the first disciples of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, the founder of Kirana Gharana. Beginning his training at a very young age and from his family, Kaivalya Kumar is the youngest Hindustani Classical vocalist to receive top grade on All India Radio and Doordarshan, India's state radio and TV channel respectively. For aficionados of khyal pertaining to a classic gharana, Pt. Kaivalya Kumar's high-pitched, mellifluous voice and exquisite phirat, murki and taans and will be a treat.

Kala Ramnath, violin (performing on Day 3)

Grammy-nominated violinist Kala Ramnath was born to a prodigious musical family in Chennai and began her training at age two and a half by her grandfather and noted Carnatic violinist Vidwan Narayana Iyer. When she was 14 and was performing with her aunt, noted violinist N Rajam, Ustad Zakir Hussain is said to have complimented her for playing like her aunt, but also saying 'Who will listen to a copy when the original is still around?' That spurred Kala Ramnath to make her own mark, for which she trained for 15 years under Mewati Gharana legend Pandit Jasraj. With her unique playing style, Kala Ramnath has performed worldwide, collaborated with artistes across genres including Kai Eckhart, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Terry Bozzio, Ray Manzarek (of The Doors), and has worked in creating background of Hollywood films, including “Blood Diamond”.

Sasika Rao-de Haas, cello (performing on Day 4)

Both the name and the instrument seems a misfit for an Indian classical music festival, yet Sasika Rao-de Haas' embellishments of Hindustani ragas on the cello will be one of the definite sounds to behold at this year's festival. The accomplished Western Classical cellist first came into contact with Indian classical music when she studied at Rotterdam's (Netherlands) Codarts conservatory of music where flute legend Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia was a teacher. She came to India and trained under Pt. DK Tatar, Pt. Deepak Chowdhury and Pt. Shubhendra Rao (to whom she is now married.) She has remodeled the cello, a typical western classical instrument, and developed her own technique to play Indian classical ragas.

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Mohan veena (performing on Day 5)

Speaking of remodeled instruments, there aren't many Indian classical musicians whose instrument is named after them. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt turned the Hawaiian guitar into an instrument of its own, the Mohan veena, the sounds of which has created waves all over the globe. A 1994 Grammy winner (for his album “A Meeting By The River” launched him to international stardom, and the instrument's popularity among Western musicians as well. A direct disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar, he is known for his fusion and pan-cultural collaborative work. The Mohan veena – consisting three melody strings, four drone strings and 12 sympathetic strings, produces a unique timbre of audio that Bhatt plays assimilating techniques of sitar, sarod and veena.

Pt. Jasraj, khyal vocals (performing on Day 5)

Ever so rarely even in an intense art form like classical music, a name becomes more than a person, and becomes an institution. It has taken six years, but Sangeet martand Pandit Jasraj, the unequivocal legend of the Mewati gharana will be making his mark at the biggest classical music festival in the world this year. Initially training as a tabla accompanist, Jasraj was inspired by Begum Akhter to become a vocalist and unhappy with his treatment as an accompanying artiste, left his house at age 14 and vowed to not cut his hair until he learned to sing.

Pt. Jasraj's voice is said to extend to four and a half octaves, and his style includes incorporating a flexible singing of khyals incorporating elements of lighter styles like thumri. He is also the creator of the novel form of jugalbandi performance between a male and female vocal -- called Jasrangi. Pt. Jasraj has been a lifelong advocate of popularizing classical music and making it more accessible to the general audience, recording film soundtracks and adpting a lecture-demonstration model of performance to educate the audience. He is also the founder of Pandit Jasraj Schools for Indian classical music -- in Atlanta, Tampa, Vancouver, Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Mumbai, and Kerala.