The glow of reverence is rarely found in this era of skepticism. On February 12, Vistar?s budding musicians paid glowing tributes to their guru Siddhartha Roychowdhury. His handling of the orchestra of sitar, sarod and tabla with 20 students proved his mastery over child psyche, a trait of his father Anil Roychowdhury ? the wonderful trainer behind the strong presence of Ame-erkhani Baaj in the style of today?s sitar-sarod players of Bengal. Earlier, Soumitra Dasgupta?s teental-based tabla recital, with an eye on intricate laya and bols highlighting tonal variety of both the drums, displayed devotion. So did the sarod of Rajrupa Sen in a well-rendered Puria Dhanashri. Dasgupta?s tabla accompanied her recital.
Meena Banerjee
The recent exposition of three-score paintings and drawings by Swaroop Mukerji on Rashtrapati Bhavan (Delhi) and Raj Bhavan (Calcutta), mounted by Ranvir Bhandari of ITC Sonar Bangla at its spacious art gallery, was redolent of the grandeur of ornate buildings and gardens and Presidential bodyguards, captured in water colour, pen-and-ink, conte and mixed media. The visual treat was something of a high-profile conducted tour down India?s post-rococo memory lane. Mookerji has long been busy painting the colonial edifices and the flora and fauna adjoining them as well as such impressionistic glimpses as The Bone by Night, View from the Main Verandah, and Wall Lamp in the Throne Room, the captions being self-explanatory.
Samir Dasgupta
Indo-Burma Petroleum celebrated its 97th Foundation Day at Kalamandir on February 8. Divided into two parts, the programme began with an Odissi dance performance by Enakshi Das and her troupe. She began her recital with Mangalacharan, the traditional invocatory number of the Odissi repertoire, with grace and precision. She produced mature, sustained and vibrant movements in Chandana charchita from Jaydev?s Geetgovindam. The gotipua nritya, which helped reconstruct Odissi in its present form, delighted the audience with fast rhythmic acrobatic feats replete with beautiful structural compositions. It highlighted the rustic roots of the Odissi style. It was followed by batu nritya, palla-vi, abhinaya and mahari (usually perfor-med by the Devdasis in a temple). The second half of the programme featured Hai-manti Shukla with her melodious songs.
Sharmila Basu Thakur
