91Èȱ¬

Aditya Chakrabortty journeys to Kolkata and into the mythology of one of India's most precious musical traditions.

Over the course of an all-night classical music concert – or 'conference' – we hear some of the best Indian classical musicians on the planet describe the intricacies of their art, and explain why it might not last much longer in a culture short of attention and keen for quick satisfaction.

At the Uttarpara Sangeet Chakra Conference, on the bank of the river Ganges just north of Kolkata, sitarists, tabla-players, vocalists and other instrumentalists start at 8pm and try to outplay each other until 7 o’clock in the morning, to an audience of nearly 3,000. In doing so, they reenact a tradition central to Indian classical music, which was based on such a competitive tradition with artists battling each other in front of a royal court.

Aditya meets some of the audience members and musicians trying to keep the all-night conference alive, including some of Indian classical music’s biggest names – Shahid Parvez, Tanmoy Bose and Ajoy Chakrabarty, as well as the Kolkata-based writer and classically trained singer Amit Chaudhuri.

Produced by Eve Streeter

A Greenpoint production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 first broadcast in July 2016.