?Deshey Bideshey Rabindranath? (Birla Academy, February 25) ? the title raises expectations of the kind that director Rajeswar Bhattacharya obviously did not have in mind. His students ? most of them are based abroad, like Sanghamitra Chakraborty and Kakoli Ghosh ? expressed an air of casual singing. Biswarup Rudra stood out, deservingly, as the best talent among his students. A refreshingly impassioned and mellifluous timbre coupled with an inherent smoothness lent a special touch to oft-heard numbers like Tumi epaar-opaar koro and Jibaney aamar. The slow ektaal of the latter attained a rare depth with Biplab Mondal?s tabla accompaniment. Chakra-borty?s Bipula taranga rey failed to attain the height required of a dhrupad composition. Tania Das? Tumi jeona was, however, a shade better than her opening numbers.
Mohua Mitra
The famed gayaki ang, perfected by the musicians of the Imdadkhani school and taken to the zenith by Vilayat Khan, has found a new torchbearer in Hidayat Khan (Kalakunj, February 19). Hosted by Manik Shahani Art Foundation and Spandan, the sitar recital saw Hidayat laying out a large canvas to delineate raga Jogkauns. His command over the finger board, especially those carefully plucked strings, rekindled memories of Vilayat. Hidayat may not have arrived as yet, but for Kumar Mukhopadhyay, he is almost there. Gifted with a well-toned baritone, his relaxed and pleasing approach to raga Yaman Kalyan spoke volumes about his training in the Patiala school. He requires the skill to engage the audience, infusing more colour into the raga.
Anshuman Bhowmick
The glitzy launch of two new television channels ? Tara News and Tara Music ? by Broadcast Worldwide on February 21 at the G.D. Birla Sabhagar did not turn out to be exactly ?rocking?, as promised by several cele-brity faces on the huge background screen. As the programme coincided with the Bhasha Dibas, the organisers made full use of the occasion, inviting popular vocalists from Bangladesh as well. Both Shahnawaz Rahman Swikriti and Sumi Shabnam have an impressive voice range and suppleness of tone that they used to their fullest in reproducing vignettes of all-time hits. Haim-anti Shukla was unfortunately not in her element that evening. Nachiketa?s irreverence and Chandrabindoo?s Gaan bhalobeshey were equally predictable.
MM
