New Delhi: Renowned maestro Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt held centre stage with his mesmerizing mohan veena recital on the third day of the tenth annual edition of SaMaPa Aalap Festival in Jammu district.

Creator of the Mohan Veena and the winner of several national and international awards like the Grammy Award, Padmashri and Tansen Samman amongst others, Pt. Bhatt, a disciple of the legendary Pt. Ravi Shankar, has travelled across the globe in around 80 countries mesmerizing the world with his pristine, delicate yet fiery music.

The tenth Aalap festival is being presented by SaMaPa (Sopori Academy of Music And Performing Arts) in collaboration with Department of Tourism, Jammu, J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages and Department of Information & Public Relations, J&K. The Festival was founded by Pandit Bhajan Sopori and his son Abhay Rustom Sopori.

With blinding speed and faultless legato, he captivated the audience of Jammu and Samba border. He was accompanied on Tabla by Pranshu Chaturlal and on Pakhawaj by Rishi Shankar Upadhyay, both brilliant young stars of Indian music. Pt. Bhatt explained the nuances of music, melody and rhythm to the audience and the basic system of playing a raga. He played Raga Nat Bhairav starting with Aalap and Jod followed by compositions in Vilambit and Drutlaya Teentaal.

In another concert, at the Police Technical Training Institute in Vijaypur, Samba, Pt. Bhatt and Ragini Rainu’s Sufi vocal enchanted the audience of more than 700 people who came to attend the concert at the border area.

Pt. Bhatt presented Raga Maru Bihag plying Aalap and Jod followed by compositions in Teentaal. Ragini presented various Sufi qualams of Baba Bullehshah composed bymusic legend and her Guru Pandit Bhajan Sopori. Ragini was joined by Aman Nath on Electronics and Keyboard, Chanchal Singh and Parveen Sethi on Percussions.

Earlier, young Sufi diva Ragini Rainu also performed at Army Public School, Ratnuchak.

Ragini is the disciple of music legend Pandit Bhajan Sopori. She is known for her presentations which have a strong base of classical gayaki embedded with fluency, aesthetics and expressions. She presented various Sufi qualams composed by her Guru Pt. Bhajan Sopori commencing her performance with Baba Farid’s qualam 'Jindade Lute Te Yaar' followed by Baba Bulle Shah’s qualams 'Ooth Challe' and 'O Ranjha Jogiya'. She concluded her performance with the traditional Sufi composition 'Damadam Mast Qulandar.'

Ragini also introduced the concept of Sufism as a musical thought and a philosophy. She said that Sufism is the soulful link between the man and the God. The hundreds of young children and music students were mesmerized by the concert and joined Ragini and sang with her clapping with the beats of the compositions throughout the performance.

Ragini has been honoured with various awards including the prestigious Global Punjabi Award by the former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, SaMaPa Yuva Ratan Samman – 2013 by Pt. Bhajan Sopori and the J&K Dogri Award - 2008 by the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir amongst others. Ragini also has had the honour of performing with the world’s topmost choir groups – the Vienna Boys Choir, Austria.

The opening day on 16 February saw a musical start with Santoor recital by the son of the soil and eminent music maestro Abhay Rustum Sopori at Jodhamal Public School, Channi in Jammu.

The concert commenced with Dogri folk music by the young students from Jodhamal Public School.

Maestro Abhay Rustum Sopori presented Raga Bheem, a rare and a melodious morning raga commencing with soothing Aalap gently unfolding the raga and made the audience full of young students sing with him. The Jod patterns with the accompaniment of Pakhawaj left the audience spellbound.

This was followed by a Sufiana Tarana composition of Abhay’s great grandfather, the great Master musician Pt. Samsar Chand Sopori ji, 'Dim Tana Ta Dare Ta Dani' in Ektaal, Bandish in Madhlaya Teentaal 'Ae Naad Bedan Ko' and Gat in Drutlaya Teentaal. The Sawal Jawab jugalbandi of Tabla and Pakhwaj with Santoor enthralled the audience. Ustad Akram Khan, one of the finest Tabla maestros of the country joined Abhay on Tabla and Rishi Shankar Upadhyay, a young Star of Pakhawaj gave splendid accompaniment.

The tenth edition of the festival from 16 to 26 February will cover more than 20 different venues of the festival in Jammu and adjoining border areas like Samba, Akhnoor, Rajouri, Poonch, RS Pora, etc. The second part of the festival will later be held in Kashmir region in March this year.