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The Pursuit of Peace through Sitar

February 26, 2021

In the pursuit of peace, Swaranjali, in association with Pracheen Kala Kendra, Navras School of Performing Arts, Deshe-Bideshe TV, Next Huddle and Gunijankhana organised World Sitar Festival on 15th August, 2020. We reproduce the same here, as part of Ajanta HC’s offering to elevate your consciousness through elements of Indian culture including music.

Sitarists from all parts of the world performed in this cloud concert.

Artists of the concert- Alif Laila, Amie Maciszewski, Anupama Bhagwat, Ashim Chowdhury, Ayan Sengupta, Debajit Chakraborty, Ebadul Huq Shaikat, Eti Bartholomew, Guillermo Rodriguez , Harashankar Bhattacherjee, Hidayat Khan, Huzoor Hasnain Khan, Indrajit Banerjee, Juan M Tavella, Kalyan Majumdar, Manoj & Mormukut Kedia, Markus Schmidt, Mita Nag, Parimal M Sadaphal, Pradeep Ratnayake, Ramprapanna Bhattacharya, Roopa Panesar, Sahana Banerjee, Saleem Khan Punchhwale, Saswatti Saha, Shakir Khan, Shunichi Sawda, Soumitra Lahiri, Subrato De, Supriya Shah, Sushanto Chowdhury, Swarup Bose and Turab Ali Khan.

These artists joined from Bangladesh, England, Germany, India, Japan, Pakistan, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, and United States of America. The Raags that featured during the event are as following: Bilashkhani Todi, Nat Bhairav, Alhaiya Bilawal, Miyan Ki Todi, Gaoti, Goud Sarang, Shuddha Sarang, Madhuvanti, Puriya Dhaneshree, Kedar, Sundar Rais Kalyan, Desh, Mishra Pilu, Yaman Kalyan, Behag, Kamod, Rageshri, Jaijaiwanti, Miyan Ki Malhar, Jhinjhoti, Kirwani, Megh, Hemant, Charukauns, Nur Gara, Malkaus, Darbari Kanada. The signature tune of the world sitar festival was composed by Pt. Subrato De.

Special Thanks to- Mr. Dinesh K. Patnaik, Director General, ICCR, Dr. Ajit Pradhan, Navras School of Performing Arts, Shri Bhootnath De from Swaranjali, Dr. Shobha Koser from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Ms. Dolly Jutley from Suristan, Mr. Bhabani Sahoo, Ms. Prachi Sahoo and Mr. Karmveer Singh from Next Huddle, Mr. Santosh Mehta, Md. Ilyas and Mr. Rajesh Gupta Archives used in this film are from the Gramophone Concert Records & His Master’s Voice Records (Gramophone Company Ltd.,) Hindusthan Record (Hindusthan Musical Products and Varieties Syndicate ltd.), Odeon Records (International Talking Machine Co.m.b.H. Berlin), Megaphone Record (Megapgone Company), Pioneer Record (Pioneer Records and Musical Varieties Ltd.) and Senola Records (N. B. Sen and Bros.). Using the archives in the film are only for the academic purpose. Audio recordings of Sangitacharya Gokul Nag and PadmaShri Manilal Nag courtesy Mr. Ira Landgarten.

Research & Curation of the concert was done by Rashmita Jha and Akhilesh Jha.

About the author

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Ashwin Srivastava

Ashwin Srivastava is the founder and CEO of Sapio Analytics, a data driven government advisory firm with head offices in Mumbai, USA and UK. The company uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to help provide decision making support to policy makers, and has multiple divisions, in form of healthcare, law enforcement and intelligence, MSME & economic growth, rural development, urban local bodies, heritage and culture, transport, and others.

He is also the co-founder of Great Manager Institute (GMI), a leading multinational people management consultancy firm based out of India, that uses A.I. to provide lifetime coaching for people managers. GMI boasts of more than 1300 unique clients spread across different industries.

He also co-owns Cancer Rounds, a comprehensive virtual cancer care hospital, and a brand of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals for cancer patients through Princeton Healthcare. He sits on the Advisory Board of venture capital firm Crucible Venture Advisors, a domestic venture fund focused on companies in the new-age tech particularly involving data and also advises UAE-based Idein Ventures, currently focused on growth capital advisory (having co-founded it earlier in its then avatar as a seed stage VC firm). He is also an Advisor to ICMR TCC and is a special advisor to the Government of Guinea Bissau.

He is also the co-owner of a London based media network called Ajanta HC (headquartered in Mayfair), focused on ancient Indian culture.

As a Regional Mentor of Change in the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog (India’s apex body on policy making), he is responsible for mentoring 115+ mentors of change in the Mission.

Besides the same, he has also worked in various official and unofficial capacities with different bodies of governments across the globe, advising the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Government of India, Government of Telangana among others, in India.

Recipient of the Forbes Asia 30 under 30 honor in 2017, he has previously been awarded and featured by leading media publications. He has led and/or invested in companies such as Plancess, Infurnia, Qriyo, Incept, among others.

Currently, in the financial sector, he advises a growing startup called GramePay. He is also working with the Government of Uttar Pradesh on an in-progress Direct Benefits Transfer scheme.

A graduate from IIT Bombay (Dual Degree, 2006-2011), he has been actively involved in technology entrepreneurship from the first year of his college and has been a critical part of the growth of the startup ecosystem in India. Data Analytics focused products are his expertise and passion.

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