Discovering Rabindranath Tagore through his music can be an exhilarating, yet exhausting, experience. Sasha A.K. Ghoshal, a student of Pramita Mallick, presented My Rabindranath at the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, on December 28. This was followed by Invitation to this World’s Festival — a programme of music and dance by Pramita Mallick and her students, steered by Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee.

Through a collection of his favourite picks from the Tagorean treasure trove, Ghoshal took us through his intensely personal relationship with the poet and his songs. Moving from the youthful to the subjective with ease, Ghoshal gave a poignant rendition of Tagore’s philosophy. Ghoshal’s pleasure in singing these songs amply came through, merging naturally with the celebration of life in the lyrics. Coupling the energy of Joy tobo bichitra ananda with the quietness of Boro bedonaar moto was a challenging experiment. Tagore’s “ami” or the self is a romantic, Wordsworthian soul seeing “into the life of things”, almost sylph-like in nature and in awe of the Maker.

Gifted with a pliant and musical voice of a certain youthful depth and hitting each note perfectly, Ghoshal makes pleasant listening and his emotive prowess goes unquestioned. The timbre, unwavering in the bass notes, touches the deepest chords of the listener’s sensibilities. Songs from Balmikipratibha, Kalmrigaya and Phalguni were a natural and legitimate choice in his repertoire as Ghoshal had earlier performed in these plays. Saghana ghana chhailo, full of foreboding, and Bol re Shyama mayer joy, sung with the necessary vigour, were in sharp contrast to Mukhokhani koro malin bidhur, a love song that touched Ghoshal the first time he heard it. Surdas’s bhajan, Bairaag jog kathin, inspired Tagore’s ‘baul’ song, Tui phele eshechhish kaarey, both pieces set in raga Bhairavi and delving into the pain of alienation.

The second half of the evening, by Baikali, was a song-and-dance event with Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee stringing together the pieces in a flamboyant narrative incorporating relevant literary excerpts. Its central theme was the ebb and tide of life, love, harmony, unity and beauty that justifies the selection of songs like Jagatey anandajagnye (soul-stirring solo by Pramita Mallick), Taharey arati karey chandra tapan, Ohey sundara mori mori. The accompanying dance was excellent — a mix of Manipuri, Kathak (Sourav Roy) and Bharatnatyam (Monojit Saha). The emotive quality in Purbita Mallick Mukherjee’s dance distinguished her performance from some of the accompanying solo renditions. Bipul taranga rey, Ananda dhara bahichhey (an easy-flowing and tuneful female solo), Pratham adi tobo shakti were memorably sung and danced to. Rishi Bandyopadhyay’s Bahey nirantar was promising; Shounak Chattopadhyay fell short of the expectation created by the excellent introductory alaap in the otherwise hesitant Bajey bajey romyobeena. The chorus could certainly have shown a greater consistency in quality.