Love, devotion and surrender... the principle attributes of the worship of Lord Krishna were depicted in Nupur Ganguly's solo vocal recital based on light classical music in the ICCR, organized by the Indian National Forum of Art and Culture. First, she focused on the eternal relationship between Meera and her prabhu and sang some rare bhajans of Meera with utmost dedication. The series of songs was a manifestation of thought and philosophy and the sonorous voice of the artist added a new facet to them. She beautifully sang, "Mere man Raam naam basi", followed by some other renditions. Her experimental composition of " Suni ho main Hari", influenced by the tune of kirtan, attracted the audience. She shifted her gayaki from bhajan to puratani and sang a baithaki song, " Jogi sajaye". The Tagore song, "Maran re tuhu mama", the Nazrul song, " Kul chhere cholilam bheshe" and the old Bengali charm, "Dole Piyalshakhe" created an ambience of nostalgic melody. It did not disturb the mood of a Krishna devotee. Her rendition of " Mathura nagarparti" completed the cycle of a journey. The expressions and the voice modulation of the artist in various songs left a mark on the audience.

 

Sayan Bandyopadhyay enchanted Tagore lovers with his renditions of a bunch of Rabindranath's love songs in a programme named, " Chiro achena paradesi". The selection of the songs and associated poems expressed the shades of love and philosophy portrayed by Tagore. Songs like "Ohe sundaro mama grihe", "Ogo amar chiro achena paradeshi", "Dhire dhire amar prane esohe" were beautifully connected with the narrations, " Je sandhyay prasanna lagane", "Ami tomare kakhono chini na ko", "Mone to chhilo tomare boli kichhu". Sayan's well trained voice arrested the listeners when he sang, "Ami hridoyer katha bolite byakul". The songs, " Dujone dekha holo", "Aji dakshinapabane", created an atmosphere of love, agony and longing that continued till the end. Sayan is more adept in the tappa style and this got reflected in songs like " Sakhi andhare", "Keho karo mon bujhe na", " Ami rupe tomay bholabo na", "Baro bedonar mato." " Elem notun deshe" and "Je chhilo amar swapanacharini" added soul to his renditions. The graceful narration by Kaushik Sen and Chaiti Mitra, especially in " Hridoy pane hridoy taane" and "Sedin tumi durer chhile" touched the audience. The well-knitted script of Kabita Chanda went hand in hand with the songs. The accompaniments by Shiuli Basu, Goutam Roy, Debika Dutta and Panchanan Baral gave the whole programme an appropriate conclusion.