Best of classical music, dance at Kashi’s Sankat Mochan fest on Day 4

Varanasi: Huge crowd of visitors and devotees enjoyed vocal and instrumental music and dance performance gathered in the courtyard of Sankat Mochan Temple on Saturday night.
The fourth night of the six-day at the Sankat Mochan Music Festival began with Kathak performance by B Anuradha Singh from Bhopal who presented a dance dedicated to Lord Shiva. She was accompanied by Salim Allawala on tabla, Aniruddha Joshi on sitar and Manoj Bamrele on violin.
A ‘jugalbandi' by Pandit Sahitya Kumar Nahar and Pandit Santosh Kumar Nahar from Delhi on sitar and violin was the next highlight. The exponents were accompanied by Pandit Ramkumar Mishra and Rajkumar Nahar on tabla. Lined up next was recital by Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar from Dagar gharana of Mumbai, accompanied on pakhawaj by the temple mahant Prof Vishwambharnath. Pandit Jaydeep Ghosh presented a sarod recital accompanied on tabla by Pandit Samar Saha.
Sneha Shankar from Mumbai, of Indian Idol fame, sang a bhajan, thumri, and several film tracks. Accompanying her were Jeetu Shankar on tabla, Ajay Soni on keyboard, Bhaskar Das on flute, Hansraj on octopad and Vikas Awasthi on dholak.
Prabhakar Kashyap and Diwakar Kashyap presented a vocal performance in Raag Bairagi Bhairav. They sang two compositions, followed by a bhajan. They were accompanied by Pandit Sanju Sahai on tabla, Pandit Dharmanath Mishra on harmonium, and Sandeep Mishra on sarangi.
Vocalist Kankana Banerjee presented a khayal in Raag Bhairav, followed by thumri and bhajan. She was accompanied by Pandit Subhash Kanti Das on tabla, Mohit Sahni on harmonium, and Gauri Banerjee on sarangi.