Aagman festival of young classical musicians and dancers, commences on 4th April at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Organised by Sangeet Vidya Niketan, the festival aims at engaging, supporting and presenting young and emerging talents in the field of Indian classical music and dance. It will give a stage to original voices, to pioneering ideas and move in the direction of serious transmission of ‘Gayan Vadan and Nritya’. The festival will feature few of today’s foremost young Indian classical dancers, vocalists, and instrumentalists of the current generation. The week-long festival concludes on 10th April.

Aagman is an attempt towards bringing Gurus, performing artists, scholars, connoisseurs, and students on an equivalent dais to enrich and inspire the younger generations and help them develop sensitivity towards Indian performing arts. Pt. Suresh, an eminent musician and Guru believes that, “Guru Shishya Parampara is the soul of Indian classical music and Aagman Festival is a welcome effort in bridging the gap between the young and the seasoned."

Sangeet Vidya Niketan, through its efforts to bring the art of Indian classical dance and music into the core of everyday life of those initiated and uninitiated, aims at providing a creative oasis for the community at large. Shri Madhur Gupta, founder of Sangeet Vidya Niketan and Odissi exponent says, "The future has a way of arriving unannounced. I believe the future generation of Indian arts has arrived and this festival is a historic one. In the sense that the audience will get to hear the unheard, see the unseen, and experience a melange of never before felt whirlwind of emotions which brings out the artist within."  

Aagman - A Festival Of Young Musicians & Dancers in its week-long celebration of the performing arts, features the following segments:

• Workshop Series
• Kala Upasana Film Screening
• Meet The Maestro Series
• Young Masters Photographic Series
• Concert Series

Workshop Series

To aspire the younger generation towards serious pursuit of performing arts and to make them aware of the rich heritage that we belong to, a workshop series in Hindustani Classical Vocals by Ketki Singh and Kathak Dance by Divya Goswami has been organized in collaboration with the Salaam Baalak Trust. 

Kala Upasana Film Screening

Questioning the relevance of worshiping one's art, this short documentary features some of the senior most maestros to the likes of Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Rajendra Gangani, Guru Sharon Lowen amongst others; imparting the true essence of what following the margam of art truly means. Ustad Zakir Hussain, a tabla wizard said, "Through Kala Upasana one can go beyond the routine existence and transcend onto higher metaphysical planes. Aagman Festival has the right blend of modern and young. They are taking our arts forward while keeping their heritage intact. I am happy to have contributed to this beautiful effort being a part of the film being presented by Sangeet Vidya Niketan at the festival."

Meet The Maestro Series

To look forward, one has to look back and assimilate what it 'was' to then create what 'will' be. Senior Gurus and maestros to the likes of Pt. Suresh Talwalkar, Darshana Jhaveri, Kumkum Lal, Shruti Sadolikar, G Venu have been invited for this series every day to share their journeys, give invaluable insight into their art forms, and ignite the flame of curiosity in the young minds to question their art to then expand the boundaries from within.

Young Masters Photographic Series

Curated by celebrated photographer Avinash Pasricha, the series features photographic stills of some of the foremost Indian classical dancers, vocalists, and instrumentalists of their generation.

Concert Series

With the theme of arrival, four leading Indian classical dancers and musicians present a full evening-length concert series in their respective genres. The concert series features Madhur Gupta (Odissi), Shijith & Parvathy Nambiar (Bharatanatyam), Shruti Adhikari (Santoor), and Aditya Khandwe (Hindustani Vocal) renditions by some of the most noteworthy artists of the younger generation.

By Guru Vijay Shanker