Saoli Mitra

With the opening words of Mor sandhyay tumi sundar beshe esechho, a motley band of singers struck the welcome note by rendering the song based in raga Yaman. The effort was not as concerted as it could have been. Yet the evening melody on May 14 took root deep in Kalamandir, setting the tone for a stimulating rendezvous with Tagore hosted by Visva-Bharati.

The session of solo recitals began ambiguously. Why Rama-prasad Dey chose Sravaner dharar mato, a favourite in condolence meetings, to begin the proceedings of birthday celebration was not understandable. However, the singer is gifted with a suave baritone and supple style despite his fluctuating tempo.

Debashis Roy, the only other male singer featured, notched up a perfect balance between dhrupad gayaki and the Rabindrik one while rendering the cosmic vision of Dnarhao mon ananta brahmandamajhe. At ease with the challenging rhythm, he made good use of a deep-throated delivery in this Bhimpalasi composition.

Among the others, Sanghamitra Gupta gave an insightful version of Sabar sathe chaltechhila and Rajashree Bhattacharya brought forth the internal imagery of chand chokher jaler laglo jowar. Srabani Sen was predictable.

Sujit Kumar Basu, the vice-chancellor, Visva-Bharati, made a departure from formal speeches to read out the allegorical Kripan from the Gitanjali. His performance gave dignity to everyman’s reading of Tagore, an aspect taken up further by Saoli Mitra’s selected readings from Galpasalpo. Mitra has a way with tongue-in-cheek comedy. She displayed amazing felicity with the bombastic words that Tagore employed in a comic take on an orthodox linguist in Bachaspati.

In the end, a the dance department of the Rabindra Bharati Univeristy presented a colourful production based on Rituranga.

In keeping with its loyalty to the Santinikentan style of singing, Dakshinee welcomed the ‘Kabipaksha’ at the Rabindra Sadan on May 6. The soiree brought together generations of students in solo, duet and chorus recitals. Top-grade performances came from seniors like Sekhar Gupta, Prabuddha Raha and Aditi Gupta. Some of the duets rendered by the junior students were enough to bring back a smile to pessimists’ lips.