KCC Offstage featuring Arko Mukhaerjee marked a chapter of the second season of the programme. A known name in folk music, Mukhaerjee performed a beautiful blend of Western music with Bengali and other oriental folk traditions at the amphitheatre of the Kolkata Centre for Creativity. The highlight was “Ol’ Man River” by Jerome Kern with “O Ganga tumi boicho kano”, which saw an active participation by the audience.
During his interactions with the audience, a key feature of KCC Offstage, Mukhaerjee discussed the concept of the amphitheatre as a ‘safe space’. He followed this up with songs like Murshid’s “Amar mon mojaiya re” and “Aaj jaane ki zid na karo”. While singing “Guantanamera”, Mukhaerjee spoke about the history behind the Cuban song by José Martí and linked it with Moheener Ghoraguli’s “Hai bhalobashi”. He portrayed the varied themes of displacement, Partition, belonging and identity through a combination of Bob Marley’s “No woman, no cry” and Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Hum dekhenge”.