Veteran sitar player Subroto Roychowdhury displayed his envious repertoire on August 27 at the M.P. Birla Planetarium. Leisurely note elaboration, phrase developments, rhythmic patterns and prim tihais were the high points in his recital. Commencing with Chandrakauns he moved on to Desh, Mian Malhar and Megh. The thrill of a fast jhala came only once here. Beautiful compositions in Khamaj, Gara etc put the final seal. He is a fine music-maker, no doubt, but his stumbling fingers depended heavily on his eloquent facial expressions to help translate his musical thought process without interruption. To enjoy its full impact one has to watch his gesticulations intently. In this respect the planetarium’s compact auditorium was a perfect choice. Organiser Senjuti forgot to introduce Sanjib Pal, the tabla accompanist. A grave mistake.
Meena Banerjee
Kuhak celebrated 31 dramatic years by putting up Sadhur Lathi, a dramatised version of a Shirshendu Mukhopadhayay story performed by the children’s wing of the group. The simple tale involving village scoundrels, highwaymen and a magical stick that beats up bad guys and saves the day is easily adaptible for the stage. The moral is simple and there are lots of action, ghostly and otherwise, to keep kids occupied for over an hour. The most eye-catching of all the child actors is Monalisa Sil (Konthodada) who plays the ghost who is dressed in ribbons and a face-covering wig, but is, paradoxically, not seen by anyone on stage. The acting is fittingly boisterous, but the script is patchy.
Satadru Ojha
Thumri exponent Purnima Chowdhury, enthused by the ambience of Jhulan Purnima (August 20), sang two traditional compositions. Striking melodies apart, the lyrical beauty of an extraordinary kajri made her short recital interesting. The evening organised by Swar Ganga presented Dolon Mazumdar, Sumita Adhikari and Dolon Banerjee ? three promising disciples of Chowdhury. They gave an impressive account of their taiyari with a Mishra Khamaj thumri set to jat, Purbi dadra and a lively Mirzapuri kajri. Veteran Deba Prasad Dey and young Vivekananda Acharya were supportive on the harmonium and tabla respectively. Armed to the teeth with excellent bandishes, Prasenjit Chakraborty’s khayal rendition was pathetically comic.
MB
