Bichitrananda Deo, Mitali Chinara and Shailabhama pay musical tribute to Akshaya Mohanty at Utkal Mandap in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 18: Music lovers in the capital dedicated their Thursday evening to the legendary singer Akshaya Mohanty on his ninth death anniversary. To commemorate the singer’s musical journey, a musical evening Smruti Tume Akshaya was organised by Odisha Cine Critic Association and state cultural department at Utkal Mandap.

Giving a cold shoulder to the November chill, fans of Akshaya Mohanty swarmed in at the open theatre. To pay tribute to their beloved Khoka bhai, noted singers of Odia music industry hummed few of the many hits sung by the legend.

The singers did an excellent job of selecting some of Mohanty’s best songs. The two-hour long programme offered the listeners some of the most popular songs of the singer.

The evening began with one of his most popular bhanjans, Eka to bhakata jibana. Music director Manmath Mishra did full justice to the bhajan. As Sailabhama hummed Mana haji jae, the audience burst into claps and whistles. Sourav Nayak beautifully sang the legend’s romantic number, To bina lagena bhala kichi.

The evergreen number from film Kiye Kahara, Paradesi kaho tume by Mitali Chinara followed by Chandra malli hase by Suvendu Nayak and a vibrant rendition of Udi udi ja re sung by Prasanta Padhi won appreciation from the audience. When Rati Ranjan began the very lively and peppy Raja jhia sange, the listeners joined the singer.

Other noted singers who paid their tribute to the legend were Bibhu Kishore, Bichitrananda Deo, Soma Karmakar, Sweta Mishra, Kumar Bikash, Mahendra Acharya, Lahari Mohanty, Tusar Kanti Jena and many more.

“The death of Khoka bhai continues to be a great loss to Odisha’s music industry. Every year we organise musical evenings to show our love for our beloved Akshaya Mohanty, ” said Pradosh Patnaik, one of the organisers of the musical evening.

The legend not only wooed the people of Odisha with his melodious renditions, meaningful lyrics and harmonious tunes but also with his brilliant literary works.

In memory of Akshay Mohanty’s literary skills, Cine Critic and state cultural department has started a Sahitya Samman Award. This year, the esteemed award was given to littérateur Ramchandra Behera.

Also present among the audience was director Chakradhar Sahu. “I have grown up listening to Mohanty’s music. He is one of Odisha’s treasured jewels and is irreplaceable,” said the director.