It was a rendezvous with two generations of legends, who came together at the Science City Auditorium on Christmas day and stirred up musical nostalgia.

Set against palatial arches and columns in white and gold lending a rich backdrop, the stage was set for the second chapter of Harmonika Sangeet Samman 2007, in association with Anandabazar Patrika, meant to honour and felicitate music makers and singers for their contribution to music. Danseuse Amala Shankar presided as chief guest on the occasion.

Satinath Mukherjee and actress Chaiti Ghoshal compered the five-h our show, punctuated with anecdotes on the artistes and their music. Voices from yesteryear like Sumitra Sen, Subir Sen, Anup Ghoshal, Nirmala Mishra, Ramkumar Chattopadhyay and music composer Biman Mukhopadhyay were commemorated with memorial trophies, bouquets and stoles. Tollywood’s leading ladies from the classic era — Madhabi Mukherjee, Sabitri Chatterjee and Sandhya Ray — were led on to the dais to felicitate the legends, along with Debashree Roy and Rajatava Dutta.

Interspersed with songs and tales, Anup Ghoshal set the tone of the evening with all-time favourites from Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen and Hirak Rajar Deshe, followed by a packed performance by most leading singers in Bengali music.

Playback singer Arundhati Hom Chowdhury and Sreeradha Bandopadhyay rendered some of their classic hits, while Raghab won over the audience with his soulful rendition of Uri uri mon, Jhiri jhiri and a classical fusion piece. Srikanta Acharya and Lopamudra Mitra sang from their collection of ballads and folk songs.

Going strong at 86, Manna De received a standing ovation as he took the stage. Soumitra Chatterjee felicitated the legend and read out a script tracing his journey into music, before going on to recite Tagore’s Baashi at De’s request.

The auditorium came alive to De’s repertoire of timeless classics, ranging from his anthem Coffee Houser shei adda-ta to a medley of Hindi and Bengali songs like Sundari go, Phul gendwa na maro, Laaga chunri mein daag and mere zohra jabi. Satinath Mukherjee joined him in singing Hemanta Mukhopadhyay’s verse from the song Hajar takar jhaar bati-ta while the audience cheered on.

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