Bickram Ghosh and Rahul Sharma in performance on Monday evening; (top) interiors of Copper Lounge on Shakespeare Sarani. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

The city is to get another lounge bar shortly. But its owner insists it’s different. “There is a dearth of serious lounges in the city and Calcutta still mixes up the nightclub and lounge concept. We are here to focus on the latter, a segment that the city still hasn’t mastered,” says Anjan Kumar Mitra, business head Jasmine Commercials Ltd, (Eastern India franchisee, Copper Chimney) talking about their latest venture, Copper Lounge, set to open its shutters on November 7.

Set up in Jasmine Tower at 31 Shakespeare Sarani, Copper Lounge is right on top of Copper Chimney. Spread over 2,000 sq ft, the set-up is clean and classy. “After a hard day’s work, the serious drinker can enjoy a good ambience, light talk, good music and savour his drink,” says Mitra. “The target crowd is executive, young and mobile,” he adds.

While wooden flooring exudes warmth, the use of glass creates the feel of space. The colour story revolves around brick red, pristine white and brown with bits of purple here and there. The highlight is thread-like cascading curtains.

Cosy off-white sofas and coffee-bean coloured low seaters have been thrown in with tables with frosted glass tops. The lighting is a rainbow concept, switching from violet to indigo, blue and green. Spread over 300 sq ft is the space for private and corporate parties.

The bar is well stocked with coolers, mocktails, shooters, cognac, tequila, wines and liqueurs. The food corner boasts tandoori and Chinese options. While individual dishes are tagged at Rs 85-plus, combo meals cost between Rs 155 and Rs 175.

The music zone will focus on “western compositions”. DJ Modjo will churn out music three days a week. “Currently we are looking at a turnover of Rs 5 lakh a month,” Mitra signs off.

Soul sounds

Sporting shoulder-length curls and trendy casuals, these two GenX musicians may look really at home in a rock band. But their choice of instruments is not the guitar or drums, but the santoor and tabla.

Rahul Sharma and percussionist Bickram Ghosh had much in common and yet had never met. Fifty years after their fathers, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pandit Shankar Ghosh, played together, these new-age musicians hailing from a strictly classical background have come together for the first time.

The result is Interface — The Other Side Of Fusion, an album with a new-age sound drawn from a purely classical base.

“Interface is a fusion of traditional Indian classical music with a lot of pop sounds and an innovative use of drums and other percussion instruments,” says Bickram.

The duo performed to a rapt audience at Taj Bengal on Monday evening where the album was launched by Sare gama chief Sanjeev Goenka.

“The everlasting appeal of classical music gives the artist a sense of perpetuity, but it does not allow him to leave his signature,” points out Bickram.

Trying to dispel myths about fusion sounds, Rahul says: “It is not about gimmicks but more about creating a distinct sound.”

Though new-age music has a lot of appeal among the younger generation, classical music has still not lost its charm. “While we started with the basics before experimenting, the younger generation is hooked on to newer sounds before slowly moving on to the classical,” says Rahul.

Rahul is not really worried about the future of classical music. “The tradition will continue as long as there are torchbearers,” he assures. Now looking forward to his album Ladakh — Search for Buddha to be released on November 15 and the second part of The Confluence with Richard Clayderman, Rahul is poised to score music for a couple of Hindi films.

Bickram is also set to make music for two new Bengali films while working on albums like the second edition of Rhythmscape and Jams.