Akshay Mohanty. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 9: GenY Odias settled in the US were introduced to late music legend Akshay Mohanty, as a music troupe from the state performed in cities across the US last week. And for the older generation, already familiar with the musical maestro, it was like taking a trip down memory lane.

Led by acclaimed songwriter Devdas Chhotray, the troupe performed in Seattle, with singer Susmita Das taking the lead in the musical event organised by the Odisha Society of The Americas, a Boston-based non-profit organisation, from July 5 to 7.

Das was accompanied by Baraja Patnaik on the keyboard and Dusmanta Parida on tabla. They performed on 18 evergreen radio songs, originally created by Chhotray and the late Akshay Mohanty in Cuttack in the 1960s.

“Five decades ago, radio was the sole arbiter of cultural excellence and purveyor of good music and drama. Akshay Mohanty, was a product of the radio, where he first showcased his musical talent and gradually evolved as a musician of repute,” said Chhotray.

The group promoted the anthology of 18 poems, aptly titled Radio Days, dedicated to the celebrated singer.

“The radio was the platform that accommodated and promoted modern Odia music and also built the Akshay Mohanty brand. In order to emphasise that, I have picked up some of his earliest contributions that carry with them the message of modernisation,” he said.

Members of the troupe said Akshay Mohanty, popularly addressed as Khoka bhai, had a large fan following among the Odia diaspora in the US.

“Many early settlers in the States were his contemporaries, who always remember that friendship and crave his music. Today, one can listen to his songs on YouTube or download them from various websites but live musical events have a charm of their own, making it all the more attractive for those who are away from home,” said singer Susmita Das.

“The songs had to be recreated to make them contemporary. That has been taken care of by music composer Om Prakash Mohanty and rendered by Susmita Das, Biebhu Kishore, Arvind and Ratikant Satpathy in the CD we will circulate,” said Chhotray, who, during this trip, also endorsed his new volume of music, Rubai, an adaptation of Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in Odia.

The troupe also toured Houston, Dallas, Washington DC and New Jersey to spread the magic of Akshay Mohanty’s music.