In spite of a torrential downpour in the city, it was a pleasant surprise to see
that Dimension 4’s Jagao Pathike at Rabindra Sadan was nearly houseful. This could have something to do with the invitation card featuring Nupurchhanda Ghosh and Amol Palekar, an intriguing pair to say the least. The evening had its moments of solemn beauty.

The stage was filled to the brim with singers — mainly women who drowned
the voices of the three men on the side — who commenced the programme with
“Tumi nirmalo karo” (Rajanikanta Sen), “Ore bon tor bijone” (Atul Prasad Sen) and “Nikhil jagat” (Dwijendralal Roy). The tabla added a flourish to their performance but
by the third song, their voices began to sound fatigued and estranged from the accompanying music. It was left to Ghosh, the lead singer, to control the teeming textures of the saucy “Jagao pathike” and the melodic “Aar ki bharosha” (both by Rajanikanta Sen). In the latter, the percussionist, Dipankar Acharya, brought a
joyous and funky rhythm to the khol.

The much-awaited readings by Palekar from Rajanikanta Sen’s “Eto kolorobe” and Atul Prasad Sen’s “Nutan borosh nutan borosh” had its moments of exhilaration. His staccato, “rusty” (by his own admission) accent notwithstanding, Palekar has always been astounding in his construction and commitment that automatically provoke active listening. Ghosh continued her seamless solo runs with “Ekbar gal bhora ma” (Dwijendralal Roy) and the bustling “Aar kiser shanka” (Rajanikanta Sen) with her voice sounding confident. The evening was conceptualised and designed by Tinku Das.