Naibedya?s ?Tabo Premamaya Madhuri? at Kalakunj on April 11 was like a flicker of hope for Tagore?s audience in the city. Not all present-day Rabindra Sangeet programmes are doomed, as some would have us believe. Young voices, refreshingly tuneful and trained, turned some of Tagore?s best creations in love into soulful, musically sincere renditions. Tagore?s spiritual sojourns into the Vaishnav philosophy and his awakening to the intrinsic pathos in true love were well-represented by numbers like Aaji sraban ghana, Mamo mono upabaney, Aamar joleyni aalo and Gahana kusum. Under Anuradha Biswas?s direction, the programme turned out to be well-researched as well as deftly spun. Biswas?s solo Hriday aamar prakash holo hovered around near-perfection standards. Debi Burman and Prabhat Dutta should have taken care not to mar the appealing music with their shortcomings.
Mohua Mitra
As in photography, the intrinsic power of black-and-white images is becoming increasingly evident in the painter?s palette. Kanchanmala Ghosh?s second solo exhibition on view at the Academy of Fine Arts is focused on aesthetic compulsions to avoid distracting viewers? attention from the shortcomings of composition covered up by colour. In highlighting the contours of the natural body language of her subjects, captured in various states of emotion, Ghosh has used a minimal palette without shunning chiaroscuro effects. The combination of charcoal and acrylic as the ingredients of her chosen mixed media has served the artist?s purpose in a number of deeply expressive humanscapes.
Samir Dasgupta
Theatrician organised, ?Hridoymajhe Chaho Re? at the G.D. Birla Sabhagar on April 12. In a jugalbandi, Soumitra Chatterjee recited and Rahul Mitra sang Rabindrasan-geet. Mitra?s choice of songs was impressive, as not many show the courage to choose only the Brahmasangeets these days. The musical hands, however, could have coordinated in a better way. Rabindrasangeet exponents, in recent years, try to stamp their individual styles on the songs at any cost. E moho aboran was going well until Mitra decided to elaborate on the phrase dekhi noyono bhori. Soumitra read out prose pieces from Tagore and his confident voice proved a counterpoint to Mitra?s presentation.
Trinankur Banerjee
