(From left) Hariharan, Ajoy Chakrabarty and Shabana Azmi with hosts Swastika Mukherjee and Mir; the audience at the New Jersey Ananda Utsav 2011. Pictures by Pratim D. Gupta

Day One, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty sang Boro asha kore eshechhi go kachhe deke lao. On Day Three, Shaan sang Boro asha kore eshechhi go kachhe deke lao. One performance started the event, the other brought it to a close. Between the two diametrically different renditions of the same Rabindrasangeet, Anandabazar Patrika presents KKN Ananda Utsav New Jersey, powered by Techno India Group, climbed new heights and scored record audiences in America’s much-loved Garden State.

The two very different schools of singing of what is a very popular Tagore number were also representative of the kind of cultural microcosm the three days of the Ananda Utsav is able to showcase wherever it sets anchor. After regaling London, the Bengali festivities reached American shores in Los Angeles in September last year. This year, it was the East Coast of the US to go ananda!

In what was arguably the best Indian music line-up at any event anywhere in the recent past, the Garden State Exhibition Center, a 50-mile or 30-minute drive from New York, was witness to the coming together of masters, legends and reigning favourites between May 27 and 29. If Shabana Azmi recited Tagore, Shiv Kumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia got their on-stage groove back, Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan belted out their hits, Subhamita and Raghab got the new-age Bengali music flowing and Shaan got them grooving to bring the curtains down.

Hosted by Mir and Swastika, the memorable Memorial Day weekend event saw Bengalis and even non-Bengalis coming from as far as Los Angeles and San Francisco for their annual fill of all things Bong. Buying a Sunil Gangopadhyay book, picking up a taanter sari, queuing up for a Bangali lunch, participating in a cookery or beauty or singing contest and, of course, listening to the top performers from back home live... the menu was quite irresistible.

Here are quick snapshots of the music and lyrics that wowed the audiences at Ananda Utsav USA 2011, when they were not OD-ing on shingara and rajbhog.

Shabana Azmi reads from Tagore

Oh Shabana!

Gulzar, who read out his Hindustani translations of Tagore at the London Ananda Utsav earlier this year, couldn’t make it to New Jersey thanks to his doctor, who didn’t allow the poet-lyricist to take such a long-haul flight. So Shabana Azmi, whom Gulzar had directed in Namkeen back in 1982, filled in for the starched white kurta-pyjama man.

Well, not literally. Shabana wore a stunning red sari and seemed to have walked straight out of one of those early Aparna Sen films. She sat in a corner of the stage and listened to the poetry — read by director Gautam Halder — and songs — sung by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty — of Tagore, waiting for her turn.

And then she would stand up, wear her glasses and read out Tagore poems in English to a completely mesmerised audience. “ mother, the young prince is to pass by our door...” Shabana’s earnest reading made it an almost 4-D experience.

“Well, it’s said that you can take a Bengali out of India but you can never take India out of a Bengali,” Shabana said to a round of thunderous applause. “And that’s what makes a festival like Ananda Utsav so important. You may embrace the world as a global citizen, but your roots are firmly in India and you are getting in touch with that through culture and music.”

Aparna Sen had cast Shabana as a mute character in her film Sati but the way Shabana spoke Bengali at New Jersey, she is now totally equipped to play a speaking role for sure. “Bondhu aamar khub ichchhe Banglay katha boli kintu aami shahosh pachchhi naa.” Modesty, madame!

Hariharan woos the crowd

He who can sing in victories

The last time Hariharan sang on the Ananda Utsav stage in London, India won the cricket World Cup. This time when Hariharan sang at New Jersey, Chennai Super Kings won the Indian Premier League. That’s some coincidence, isn’t it? Here’s a man in 2011 with a mop of hair that could do Carlos Valderrama proud, singing in victories on the cricket field from faraway shores. You tell him that and he gives one of those embarrassed smiles.

The music, though, was as good as ever. Tu hi re and Bharat humko jaan se pyaara hai knock it out of the park every time, but the song New Jersey went home with on the second night of Ananda Utsav was Nahin saamne from Taal with that never-ending ‘Preyasi’ pull. For those not so much into Bolly boli, Hariharan’s ghazals did the trick. He even got his two sons to sing a couple of songs in the middle of his programme. Early days, though, to call them like father, like sons.

“This is my third show at Ananda Utsav and it’s been a great place to perform,” Hariharan said. “ABP is doing a fantastic job of getting all these big artistes from home and propagating Indian arts and culture.”

Play it again

The only play in this edition of Ananda Utsav had only one actor on stage. But what an actor and what a performance! Debshankar Halder went all solo for close to two hours in his play Iye. Based on a story by German writer Peter Bichsel, Iye was a riveting ride through the mindscape of a deeply sensitive man who struggles to come to terms with the new ground rules of modern life.

If Debshankar was the star of the second morning, Raghab Chatterjee and Subhamita were the draws of the third morning. They were slated to be part of a trio but Tribeni became Dibeni with Rupankar failing to make it to the US. He was connected on the phone on stage but Raghab and Subhamita did all the singing as the requests from the crowds kept pouring in.

(From top Ajoy Chakrabarty in performance; Purbayan Chatterjee’s String Struck team with Shankar Mahadevan

Shankar struck

Purbayan Chatterjee’s String Struck is anyway a blending of many worlds, of acoustic and digital sounds, of Indian and foreign instruments and so when you add a certain Shankar Mahadevan to the mix, the music blooming on stage becomes even more pure and passionate. Solo pieces on the sitar, battles between percussionists, alaap jamming… it was an eclectic musical melange on the second night.

But there’s little to match the absolute magic of Shankar. He sang the World Cup song De ghumaake and his famous patriotic anthem Hindustani. There was also the soft but moving Yun dil se dil milein, which he had sung on the String Struck CD. And then there was Breathless, of course. “Woh ek gaana gaake maine apne pair pe kulhari maar li… I have to sing it in every concert.” So he did at New Jersey and not just him, even the audiences went breathless!

Anindya Chatterjee on the tabla with Shiv Kumar Sharma on the santoor and Hariprasad Chaurasia on the flute

Phir wohi silsila

Blessed were the attendees of Day 3. They got to listen to Shiv-Hari live. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, 73, and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, 72, the living legends of Indian music, played just one piece together on the Garden State Exhibition Center stage around 5.30pm. But those who were there would vouch how that single musical piece was enough to last a lifetime of listening.

With hands that almost make the mallets dance on the santoor strings and breath that can make a wooden flute sing, Sharma and Chaurasia brought the world to a standstill as they played the pahadi raag together. A few seconds and you were instantly transported to the world of Silsila where the two maestros as Shiv-Hari had used the same raag for the music of the Yash Chopra film.

After the music, the two got up and hugged each other tightly. A hug so warm that most members of the audience got teary-eyed. They were both felicitated along with Pandit Anindya Chatterjee, who accompanied the legends on the tabla. Music done, Shiv-Hari left the venue instantly only to surface later at the Tuscany Grill restaurant of the adjoining Double Tree Hotel for a quiet catching-up dinner.

Shaan rocks the last night

Shaan se

There’s got to be someone who can bring the audiences to their feet. That’s been the Ananda Utsav norm. Usha Uthup did it in London last year. Sunidhi Chauhan did it in Los Angeles last year. Earlier this year in London, Hariharan did it with elan. This time, it was Shaan.

As the closing act, Shantanu Mukherjee sent the packed Garden State Exhibition Center into a tizzy. The gap between the stage and seats was gone as almost everyone got busy checking out whether their hips lied. It wasn’t that difficult a task when the man on stage was belting out chartbusters like It’s the time to disco and Where’s the party tonight.

Watching Shaan sing at the Ananda Utsav New Jersey, it was quite difficult to fathom why the singer hasn’t been on the Bollywood music directors’ hotlist of late. Shaan knows it but wants to be positive and concentrate on his tours. While singing Bhool jaa, during the interlude, he urged everyone to get rid of their depressions and enjoy life. The advice seemed to also be directed at himself.

The live audience couldn’t have enough of Shaan, though. His Bengali song lyrics seemed to be in disarray, his dancing skills wouldn’t remind you of Michael Jackson but there’s so much love and longing in his singing that it’s hard not to have a good time.

His two young sons, Shubh and Soham, weren’t allowed to hear their father sing as mom Radhika wanted the boys to catch some sleep. But they won’t have to wait too long. The New Jersey show was the first in a long American tour — he is performing in the US after five years — that would take Shaan to Dallas and Houston and Orlando.

It took just three days for New Jerzee and New Joisey to become New Jershi and New Jaarshee. Yes, Garden State was Banglaised as the Bengalis made their annual renewal of heredity. They had all come Boro asha kore and they all made a closer connect with their roots, making Ananda Utsav their cultural source of sustenance on foreign shores.