ART BRIEFS

Bengal qawwali

Once a Howrah-boy, now based in London, Chiranjib showcased his repertoire at the release of his debut album “Moynakanta” at Uttam Mancha (November 6). A trained classical vocalist, Chiranjib was confident from his first number parijayi pakhi, an adaptation from Eastenders ? a British soap title. The complex yet catchy lyrics, written mostly by another Londoner Amit Ranjan Biswas, were brought to life with intelligent music. With their romanticism, numbers like College Street, Keu kotha rakhey ni, Bonga local and Moynakanta have hit potential. But the song Rai, attempting to sketch the modern woman, was ticklish. A fusion track from his work with Talvin Singh was cool as was a Bengali qawwali. Smoke, lights and superb music could have worked on lower decibels.

Sudipta Biswas

Like an ad photograph

Devajyoti Ray’s exhibition at the Birla Academy shows glaring and contrasting hues that recall early 20th century Fauvist exuberance. Ray is essentially a figurative painter who portrays his protagonists in fashionable dress, bare-bodied to the waist and in simple clothes in details. But their faces have colour-filled blanks without eyes, nose and mouth, which remind one of M.F. Husain’s Mother Teresa series. Ray puts his characters in Euclidian geometric space of receding planes inserted with squares and rectangles indicating dimensional perspective. The contrasting colours within the geometric frames are flat, like house painting. Aware of the monotony, he begins to shake up the hues. And they look like blown-up coloured photographs ready for use in commercial advertising.

Sandip Sarkar

Search for a lost river

To mark its 10th anniversary and the Children’s Day, Sanskriti Shreyaskar presented Khoi Nadi, a dance-drama in collaboration with Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre at Purbashree, Bharatiyam. Based on a story by Jaya Mitra, the piece depicted a little girl’s search for a lost river ? a river that once used to run through her village. Choreographed by Rani Karnaa, it was a simple narration with interesting and colourful stage props. Somila Bhattacharya as Munia was lively. Her mature performance was inspiring; quick chakkars and fast movements all over the stage decked up the whole ambience. However, the latter part of the show was slow and monotonous. In the end, senior students featured in chhomchhanan along with their guru.

Sharmila Basu Thakur