NEW DELHI: The onset of the Basant Panchami festival and the month of Magh in the Hindu calendar will be marked by DD Bharati with the launch of its special series 'Maihar Gharana'.

The series features four shinning stars of Ustad Baba Allaudin Khan Maihar Gharana: sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Sharan Rani Backlliwal and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Ustad Baba Allauddin was regarded throughout India as a musician saint and remained a student of music till the age of 70 completely mastering the Dhrupad and instrumental compositions of the Seni Gharana, and adding innumerable new compositions and many new Ragas, such as Hemant, Shobhavati, Durgeshwari etc.

Basant Panchami, announces the arrival of spring or Basant, the bosom friend of Kamdev – the god of love. DD Bharati commences the series with a special archival performance of probably one of the greatest sitar players of the world Pandit Ravi Shankar, followed by Ali Akbar Khan the next week. The series commences on 24 January at 9 pm and a repeat telecast at 5:00 a.m. and 1 pm.

President Pranab Mukherjee's broadcast to the Nation will be telecast on 25 January from 7.30 pm to 8 pm on all DD channels.

The 66th Republic Day Parade will be telecast from 9 am on 26 January on all DD channels.

The Beating Retreat ceremony, which officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities, will also be telecast live. It is conducted on the evening of 29 January, the third day after Republic Day. It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the Defence forces: the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force.