When Sakhi stormed MUSON Centre

Shell Hall of the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON) Centre, Lagos, was recently agog with display of talents and culture, as the Indian classical music group, Sakhi, had its debut show in Nigeria through the courtesy of Fusion Sanskruti Arts Foundation.

Classical music lovers that filled the hall were privileged to see the all-female group display skillful manipulation of different instruments, with Savani Talwalkar on tabla, Mahima Upadhyay on pakhawi, Debopriya Chatterjee (flute), Nandini Shankar (violin) and Anupama Bhagwat on sitar. The team also had Bhakti Deshpande, a celebrated Kathak dancer. The vocalist, Kaushiki Chakraborty, was the leader.

Sakhi, in Indian language, literarily means a friend or companion, and there was no way anyone around would not have been lured into establishing a relationship with the group.

Chakroborty, whose rhythmic coordination of instruments by the performers coupled with her own voice display, was highly commendable, said, “one of the most complex forms of music is improvisional musical traditions, so, one of the aims of the group is to enliven the rich culture of classical music and pass same to the coming generation.”

In addition to the special time created for the instrumentalists to show their skills to the admiration of music lovers that converged on the hall, the group rendered songs that moved the crowd to give thunderous plaudit.

The concert commenced with a melodious song and dance in praises to the Lord of all beginnings, followed by prayer. One of the renditions enriched with dance by Bhakti was a music called Rhadha Rang, which depicted the popular festival of colours. The song drew applause from music lovers in the hall.

Perhaps the song that shook the hall was Jai Jai Durge Ma that described emotions and strength of womanhood.

The last performance came too early to music lovers in the hall, who had become immersed in Sakhi for about five hours, when it was announced that Lok Ranjini was specially devoted to Indians in diaspora.

Fusion Sanskruti Arts Foundation is an organisation that aims at protecting and preserving the rich cultural and traditional form of music, rejuvenate and celebrate Indian classical music.  It also focuses on continual giving an insight into traditional and pure forms of music to the coming generations.