Swar Sharda organised a cultural event on the occasion of birth anniversary of Sharda Sinha

A cultural event was held at Bihar Museum on Monday, 1^st October on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Padm Bhushan Sharda Sinha. The event was organised by Swar Sharda-Sharda Sinha Art and Culture Foundation and Bihar Museum.

The guests of the event were:-

Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare,
Padma Shri Usha Kiran Khan, well known writer,
Alok Dhanwa, former president of Sangeet Natak Academy,
Purnima Shekhar, Social Worker,
Dr Shanti Jain, writer,
Shashi Sharma, principal of Magadh Mahila College, and others.

Swar Sharda-Sharda Sinha Art and Culture Foundation is an institution established by Anshuman Sinha, son of Sharda Sinha. This institution was founded this very year for the research and development in the field of music. To make this evening a grand spectacle, many young artists from different field of music participated and gave amazing performances. Director of Swar Sharda, Anshuman Sinha said that in spite of coming from the post-modern generation, these young artists are still connected with their primitive musical roots.

“This is very important day for me, and so many people came to wish me. The idea is only shaped when it gets criticised and because of the criticism I’m here.” said Anshuman Sinha.

The first guest who was invited to say few words about life and work of Sharda Sinha was lyricist Hriday Narayan Jha who has written most of the songs for Sharda Sinha. Recollecting his experience of working with Sharda Sinha he acknowledged the great contribution she has made in keeping the classical music alive in Bihar. He said that Sharda Sinha has taken the torch forward from the great classical singer Vindhyavasini Devi and hoped that this tradition will be carried forward by the upcoming generations.

The evening was filled with some melodious and soulful musical performances. The first performer of the evening was a young Dhrupad singer Sumit Anand Pandey. Sumit comes from a great lineage of singer which includes his grandfather and Padma Shri awardee Pandit Siya Ram Tiwari who was an Indian classical singer and leading exponent of Dhrupad-genre of Hindustani classical music. He performed Dhrupad Alap based on Raag Multani, Dhamar, and other beautiful creations and heavily applauded by the audience. He was accompanied by Rajshekhar on Pakhavaj.

Next to perform were the children from Kilkari Bal Bhawan who gave soothing performances in which they sang “Padharo Mhare Desh” and “Bhar Do Jholi Meri” and won all the hearts. They prepared these sufi numbers in the direction of Sadhna Kumari who was also a former student of Sharda Sinha. Then Master Harshit Shankar, son of famous flute player Anil Shankar performed Rag Saraswati and dedicated it to Sharda Sinha. All the performers were felicitated by Sharda Sinha.

Two recently released Chhath songs by Sharda Sinha, which went viral on the internet, “Supwo Naa Mile Maai” and “Pahile Pahil” were also screened in the event.

Vandana Bhardwaj, daughter of Sharda Sinha, also performed her mother’s songs. She started her performance by singing ‘Anganwa’ a beautiful creation of great poet Vidyapati. On the occasion of her mother’s birth anniversary she sang “Baba Dihle Tikwa”, “Amua Mahua ke jhume Daliya” and “abhi bani umiriya ke baari”. In the end Sharda Sinha also held the mic and sang few of her favourite songs which released a wave of ecstasy among the audience.

“This is a memorable day in my life. I’m so glad that this event is organised by my children. This year I’ll be presenting some new songs on Chhath. The lyrics of the songs are ready and we only have to compose them in a rhythm. Maybe the video wouldn’t be available but the audio of songs will be available for sure.” Said Sharda Sinha.

In the event, a book named “Chhayanjali” written by Dr Neera Chaudhary was also launched in which her teacher Dr Vanmala Parvatkar and other important guests were present.

“I’ve wrote this book partly while doing my research in Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya and then I added other creations later. All I’ve learnt I learnt because of my honourable teachers.” Said Dr Neera Chaudhary.

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