A festival of young musicians of the central zone was held from 26 to 30 August 2006 in collaboration with the Department of Culture, Chhattisgarh, at the Medical Sabha Griha, Raipur. Shri Ajay Chandavarkar, Minister of Higher Education of Chittisgarh, inaugurated the festival in the presence of Shri K.D. Tripathi, Executive Board Member of the Akademi on 26 August 2006. A notable feature of the event was the presentation of duet performances of instrumental music in the morning session. A presentation of Tal
Vadya Kacheri comprising a group of talented young percussionists of the Carnatic music system was also specially included for the event. Hon'ble Governor Lt. Gen. K.M. Seth, Hon'ble Minister of Culture, Government of Chattisgarh, Shri Brij Mohan Agarwal,
Mayor Shri Sunil Soni, and Dr Purnima Pandey, Vice- Chancellor, Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, graced the valedictory function. The programme follows:

26 August

Ram Shankar, Chitrakoot: Hindustani Vocal; Saket Sahoo, Raipur:
Violin; Shruti Adhikari, Bhopal: Santoor.

27 August (10.00 a.m.)

Sameer Khan & Abhid Hussain, Bhopal: Sarangi Duet; Harish
Chandra Pati & Manmohan Nayak, Delhi: Pakhawal Duet; Raj
Bibhoti & Sujit Deoghoria, Lucknow: Flute & Violin Dut.

27 August (7.00 p.m.)

Ganesh Prasad Mishra, Varanasi: Hindustani Vocal; S. Arvind,
Seconderabad, K.Srinivas Rao, Hyderabad, N.H.P Raja Rajan,
Chennai and Bhardwaj R.Sathavally, Bangalore: Tal Vadya
Kacheri (Mridangam, Konnakol, Morsing, Ghatam); Sachin
Patwardhan, Indore: Sarod.

28 August

Kamlesh Tewari, Bhopal: Hindustani Vocal (Dhrupad); Sudhir
Pandit, Raipur: Sitar; Rabindra Bharali, Guwahati: Hindustani
Vocal.

29 August

Babul Devnath, Tripura: Flute; Omkar Dadarkar, Mumbai:
Hindustani Vocal; Radhika Umdekar, Gwalior: Vichitra Veena.

30 August

Aparajita Lahiri, Khairagarh: Hindustani Vocal; Arshad Khan,
Delhi: Israj; Agni Verma, Allahabad: Sitar.