Marking its 15th glorious edition this year, Sourendro-Soumyojit’s World Music Day concert, in association with t2, has charted an incredible journey. What started as two college buddies’ endeavour to curate a concert by bringing together musicians of diverse genres and from many places has now morphed into one of Calcutta’s biggest music festivals.
The result of six months of prep and three months of rigorous rehearsals that needed flying back and forth across the country, sometimes with the band or even the entire crew, this year’s show features a congregation of 20 artistes from 10 Indian cities. Being presented in a special format and spread over two days, it represents, as the hosts say, their way of giving back to the city and to the music fraternity for the support they have shown to this annual celebration of music for the last 15 years.
The theme for the year being ‘Legends and Legacies’, each uniquely designed performance will look back on music legends and celebrate them through a modern soundscape. Bollywood legends like Raj Kapoor, Mohammad Rafi, and Guru Dutt, among others, will be remembered through performances touched with emotion and nostalgia. The show will also pay a heartfelt tribute to Ustad Zakir Hussain.
New York-based Sid Sriram, a favourite with the young generation, will perform for the first time in Calcutta. Shankar Mahadevan will sing a special version of a rare song written by Kirtan singer Gobinda Das and composed by Tagore. Hariharan and sitar maestro Shahid Parvez will pay tribute to legendary music director Madan Mohan, in his centenary year. Papon will celebrate the creations of music composer Salil Chowdhury. Contemporary Bangla band icon Rupam Islam will present a composition by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who was perhaps the first in Bengal to develop the idea of group music performances. The experimental, folk and earthy sounds of Raghu Dixit will come alive in the presentation of a Bengali song by the 19th-century baul poet Gagan Harkara. Playback singer Shilpa Rao will perform a fascinating rendition of a Bengali raag-pradhan song immortalised by Manna Dey. Somlata Acharyya Chowdhury will perform a ghazal on stage, for the first time ever.
Besides these artistes from various parts of India and abroad, Kalpana Patowary from Assam, Shweta Mohan from Chennai and Malini Awasthi from Lucknow, and of course those from Calcutta, will add their distinctive musical styles to offer an enriching, multi-cultural music experience. On June 21, the show will end with a special anthem in tribute to India’s armed forces.
“We have invited these famous musicians to come and create something unique especially for the concert which they have never done before and which explores this year’s theme,” said Soumyojit.
“All these renowned artistes are themselves thrilled to participate in this programme, because their performance here is very different from what they normally present. What makes us proud as musicians from Calcutta is that they are showing such great interest in our city’s concert. We are happy that the World Music Day programme has made its identity not as a Sourendro-Soumyojit show but one which was started and has grown in Calcutta, and also that music lovers from all over must come to the city to join in the event,” signed off Sourendro.