What better way to involve youth in the Indian Music Group's winter music festival Janfest, than to start the three-day extravaganza (25th, 26th and 27th of Jan. '08) with the performance of the renowned band SILK.
The band has gained the reputation of being one of the best, in the genre of world music. With the pioneer of Indo-Jazz fusion- Louis Banks; arguably the most exuberant and versatile drummer and percussionist- Sivamani; the genius and one of the most talented artists in the country- Shankar Mahadevan; probably the best bassist in India- Karl Peters; and ace mridangam player- Sridhar Parthasarthy; the band sizzled through their two and a half hour performance, taking the audience by storm on Friday night.

The best part about the performance was that all the artists were busy in their own pyrotechnics, yet came forth beautifully as one single entity. They really proved that music does not need words to be effective and expressive.
The classical rendition of pure raagas by Shankar, the jazz progressions fused by Banks, held together by Karl on the bass guitars and Parthasarthy on the mridangam, and finally the world of percussions by Sivamani, put the audience in complete awe of the band.

They touched pure classical raagas like Poorya Dhanashri in their compositions and got everyone high on pure music. They also performed their composition"Churchgate to Virar", where Parthasarthy and Sivamani went on their solo performances. The mridangam solo was representative of Parthasarthy's immaculate understanding of the intricacies of rhythm. But Sivamani's percussion solo got even the sophisticated Jan Fest audience moving their feet to the rhythm and clapping their hands to the beat (which is a rarity). Ranging from playing a completely legitimate drumset, to bells, to a huge gong, to spoons, to a bathing tub, to even a suitcase- he made everything sound rhythmic and melodious. The jugalbandi between the two wizards of rhythm was a phenomenon to be witnessed. The composition had Shankar's solos to keep the classical angle in the picture, and Louis Banks' jazz with Karl on the bass to keep the spirit of fusion alive.

And in the end, as an encore, Shankar performed a composition in Raag Yaman, from one of the best private commercial albums of our times, and left the audience"Breathless", craving for more.

Republic day witnessed another beautifully conceptualised experiment in the Indian Classical genre of music called Jasrangi Jugalbandhi (a style conceptualised by Sangeet Martand Pt. Jasraj, where an ancient concept of Moorchhana is used. In very raw, lay-man terms, it is singing two different raagas on two different scales altogether, and thus creating harmony never before witnessed.), rendered very skilfully by two of the best vocalists Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar and Ashwini Bhide Deshpande.

Following their wondrous performance was the Grammy Award winner Padmashri Pt. Vishvamohan Bhatt (with the instrument he has invented- the Mohan Veena), and his son Salil Bhatt (with his invention the Satvik Veena). After having played pure classical raagas, Panditji also played Vande Maataram and the National Anthem, dedicated to Mother India.

The last performance of the day was Pt. Ajay Chakrabarthy with his strong classical vocals. The man has been striving towards a noble cause of spreading this priceless knowledge of Indian Classical Music through his school Shrutinandan in Kolkata- the only one of its kind, and stressed on the fact that this tradition has to be handed over to the next generation, which needed efforts coupled with goodwill of all. His rendition of Bade Ghulam Ali's thumri - Jogan Ban Ke, in Raag Sohni wet the eyes of many in the audience.

The last day of Jan Fest started with one of the most musically endowed violinists of this generation- Kala Ramnath. Her tonal sweetness, and the gaayki ang of playing the violin, with such flawless understanding of raagas was quite astounding. Not many people know that she is an outstanding singer too, and if you would have attended this Jan Fest, you wouldn't have missed it.

The second performance of the eve was one of the most successful duo of our times- Pt. Rajan Misra and Pt. Sanjan Misra. Their command over the three octaves and their bold rendition of Khayal gaayki was worth witnessing.

Janfest concluded with the legend himself- Pt Hariprasad Chaurasiya. If one listened to the concert, by no means could one say that the man is going to be 70 this July. The piped piper had mind-boggling control over breath and had the most perfect execution of raagas. Panditji joked around quite a lot with the audience, and played exactly what they requested. It was just the perfect end to a magnanimous three-day festival.

All in all, if you came to Jan Fest this year in the gothic quadrangle, an ambience drenched in pure intoxicating music; visited the Exhibition (on Raagas according to the time of the day with huge paintings and over a hundred charts worth information, gathered and painted only by the students, worth applauding) and the Souvenirs (where beautiful articles like artistic candles, exotic lampshades, etc. were made, again, solely by the students) and attended the stream of concerts; then quoting Fr. Frazer (the principal of St. Xavier's College), you would have had"the near perfect fulfilling experience".

The Britannia Indian Music Group of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, is one of the rarest of youth organisations, solely devoted to promoting Indian classical music among youth.

The IMG organises free concerts, lecture demonstrations, baithaks, mini-baithaks, etc. throughout the year to achieve its goal. The speciality of the organisation is that the executive committee of the organisation comprises only of the present students of the college. So all the events that are organised, are solely handled by the students. Thus, from mundane jobs like getting licences for performances, to creative endeavours like painting and decorating the venue, coupled with precarious tasks of managing the legendary artists like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasiya, Pt. Jasraj, etc. - everything is done single-handedly by the students.

Jan Fest is the annual event organised by the IMG, where around hundred odd students of the college come together to volunteer in the different departments (like Artist Management, Venue Management, Press and Publicity, Reception & Exhibition, Souvenirs), and make it a success. Spread over 3-4 sessions every year, Jan Fest, which brings the best of the artists to perform back-to-back, is the only ticketed IMG concert, and is the highlight event of the IMG in the year. All the credit for the 34th Jan Fest goes to Supraja Srinivasan (the General Secretary), Namrata Shah (the Treasurer) and their colleagues, their executive committee members.