Whatever reservations one might have about the Dakshinee-style of singing, a show put together by this decades-old Rabindrasangeet institution is always something to look forward to. The reasons are simple. The listeners expect properly rehearsed, well-coordinated choral songs, some fresh voices and a general impression of good training. More often than not, the expectations are well met. At Rabindra Sadan on May 4, Dakshinee celebrated Rabindranath’s birthday, its own foundation day, as well as its annual convocation. Sumitra Sen handed over merit certificates and diplomas to students, and the Sunil Kumar Ray Memorial Prize to Rohini Ray Chaudhuri for music and the Seba Mitra Memorial Prize to Suranjana Goswami for dance.

There was also a short ceremonial launch, by Sandip Ray, of Dakshinee’s website and two Rabindrasangeet albums — of Shreya Guhathakurta and Shamik Pal. Coming after all this, the main musical offering of 31 solo and choral songs could have made the evening tedious. That it did not owes mainly to the clean, non-repetitive singing, quick succession of songs and the absence of useless narrative intervention.

Although the programme mainly featured new talent, some of the performers were known faces. Among them, Aditi Gupta and Shekhar Gupta did justice to Aar rekho na andhaare amay and Kichhui to holo na, but Prabudhha Raha sounded laboured in the higher octave in Rakho rakho re jibane. Two other alumni, Kamalini Mukhopadhyay and Shreya Guhathakurta, chose two free-rhythm songs — Ja habar ta hobe and Ogo kangaal amare kangaal korechho respectively — and successfully evoked the strength emerging out of depths of resignation in the songs. Amit Ghosh Dastidar and Shamik Pal had difficulty finding the correct rhythm. Anirban Bhattacharya seemed ill at ease with Nach shyama taaley taaley — perhaps the song suits the female voice better. Suchanda Guhathakurta, though with a melodious voice, relied too much on embellishments.

The finds of the evening were easily Arijita Bandyopadhyay, Rohini Ray Chaudhuri, Nilanjana Sarkar and Alakananda Ray. Arijita got to sing two songs — Dheere dheere praane amar with the promising Saikat Sengupta, and Amay thakte de na — and it was not difficult to see why. All four are gifted with fresh, clear voices and unaffected diction — simple qualities, but so very rare to find in Rabindrasangeet singers these days. Srobonti Bandyopadhyay was good with the meends in Shesh belakar shesher gaane and Siddhartha Chakraborty’s Jodi baron karo brimmed with melody. The only jarring note was this: while all the soloists participated in the chorus, the ‘star’ alumnus, Subhranil (Saheb) Chattopadhyay, was allowed to slip in before his own song — performed with expected dramatic excess — and give the chorus a miss.