On Saturday, public gardens across the city will reverberate with ragas

Nearly 75 artistes will be performing at the free classical concerts which will be held between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. at 16 different locations

The city’s public gardens will sway to the strains of classical music on Saturday, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) organising performances at 16 locations for the first time ever. The BMC has tied up with two private organisations for the Mumbai Green Raga.

The concerts will be held between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and will be open to everyone for free. Nearly 75 artistes will be performing.

In December,

the BMC had decided to open up amphitheatres in the city’s gardens for local artistes. The decision was taken at a Mumbai Arts, Music and Culture Commission (MAMCC) meeting. The newly-formed MAMCC has identified many gardens with such amphitheatres, which are rarely used for public performances. In order to encourage art, music and dance, the BMC plans to make 28 of them available for performances or practice. Together, these can seat up to 4,260 people.

Coming alive with music: Amphitheatres at Shilpagram in Jogeshwari.

This weekend, the BMC, along with Tender Roots Academy of Performing Arts and Banyan Tree, has organised 16 concerts across the city. The performances will include solos on the tabla, sitar, sarangi, sarod, santoor and flute, besides vocal music. Some of the venues are Tata Garden (Breach Candy), Adi Shankaracharya Garden (Worli), Joggers Park (Bandra), Patwardhan Garden (Bandra), Shilpagram (Jogeshwari), Kishore Kumar Garden (Andheri).

“The organisations approached us some months ago and we decided to have such an initiative,” said Dr. Kishore Kshirsagar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Gardens). He said, “Our condition includes that the space cannot be used for commercial purposes, which means they cannot charge people. We are hoping people will turn out in large numbers.”

Coming alive with music: Amphitheatres at Kishore Kumar Garden in Andheri.

Prominent artistes who will be performing this Saturday include Bageshree Panchale at Patwardhan Garden in Bandra, Ramakant Gaikwad at Adi Shankaracharya Garden in Worli, Kedar Kelkar at Maruti Mandir playground in Dahisar, Kasturi Deshpande at Mindspace Garden in Malad (West) and Bhagyesh Marathe at C.D. Deshmukh Garden in Mulund.