Any initiative taken to promote new musical talents should be encouraged. It, however, takes discerning people to spot genuine talent. If we go by such a parameter, then the organisers of the musical programme, titled Prabiner range rangbe nabin, featuring Biman Mukhopadhyay and “fresh talent” Lily Mukhopadhyay, have failed to bring to the fore a star in the making. Though trained by Meera Banerjee and Girija Devi, she seemed to lack melody and expressiveness. Biman Mukhopadhyay was at his eloquent best in the soiree’s second half. He regaled the audience with brilliant anecdotes of legends like S.D. Burman and with some songs sung by long-forgotten artistes like Narasundari and Saila Devi. The soiree was held at Sisir Mancha to mark Holi.
Hemchhaya De
Sankar Mondol’s eighth solo exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts had several large to medium and small paintings. He had worked with village scroll painters and learnt the making of paper surfaces pasted on cloth and the use of vegetable and earth colours. Strictly speaking, his works are neither scroll nor eye-level easel painting. He has synthesised contradictory elements of Bengali folk art and modern figuration and produced a personal style. His voluptuously standing and reclining nude women have exposed vagina, fleshy hips and ample breasts as if ready to participate in some strange fertility rite. His two dimensional protagonists are delineated with strong contour lines that articulate sculptural proportions and mix with ease folk opulence with sophisticated figuration.
Sandip Sarkar
Calcutta recently got a taste of the fascinating land of ancient Egypt following an exhibition of unique photographs of the Pyramids and Sphinx by an adventurous and young photographer Madhuchhanda Sen at the Gaganendra Prodorshoshala. It is not very difficult to take a few photographs of these majestic and magnificent wonders. However, Sen must be credited for imparting a certain liveliness and attractiveness to these static monuments in her photographs. To achieve this, she has used interesting and evocative angles along with very delicate lighting. These are ably complemented with Sen’s high technical standard that is most essential for the success of this kind of photographic reportage. She has provided detailed captions for all the 51 photographs on display.
Sunil K. Dutt
