At Bengal Foundation’s Bengal Classical Music Festival, the slides on his mohan veena (a modified Hawaiin guitar) replicated those of the bird that he heard in the morning after his arrival. In the context of classical music, this bit by a musician where he/she tries to make the audience feel involved and invested in a classical music concert by translating the complicated structures of the system into an easier order is considered quite populist. So one saw, the choicest of the Jamdanis and colorful kurtas, lots of music and camaraderie among thousands at a classical music festival. The music festival spoke of a broad-minded, secular side of a nation, something people needed — a musical equilibrium. “Thank you,” said an elderly lady in the queue outside the cleanest mobile toilets we had seen at a music festival.

Source: Indian Express January 21, 2018 18:33 UTC