Rabindranath Tagore reshaped Bengal’s literature and music and Dwijendralal Roy was a poet, playwright, and musician. Basanti Bidyabithi celebrated the two artists in Loinu Sharan on August 3 at the Rabindra Okakura Bhawan.

The programme was fashionably late by a good 45 minutes. The chief guest of the evening, Bratya Basu, took the stage and enlightened the audience on Dwijendralal Roy and his works.

The musical programme started with a group song presented by the students of the institution. Their rendition of “Dariye achho tumi amar gaaner opaare”, based on Raga Ahir Bhairav, was moving, although a more synchronized performance would have been appreciated.

The session by Alok Roy Chowdhury was pleasing as he presented songs by both Roy and Tagore. Roy was a playwright who had a love for wit and farce. The song, “N.D. Ray-r meye” — a parody of the song, “Oi mahashindhur opaar theke” — from Roy’s spoof of Rabindranath Tagore in Anandabiday, was a comical yet resonant rendition by the singer. He also discussed how Roy made parodies of songs by Wajed Ali Shah. The song, “Koto kaal robey”, was a parody of Wajed Ali’s famous song ,“Jab chhor chale Lucknow nagari”. Roy Chowdhury’s performance of Roy’s “Shukher kotha bolo na aar” was soulful. His renditions of Tagore’s “Ami kaan pete roi”, based on Raga Behag, and “Tobu parine shopite praan” were melodious and set a joyous mood.

Pubali Debnath presented songs from the different plays of Tagore. She sang “Chireton horoton ishkabon” from Tagore’s play, Tasher Desh. The music of the play is a blend of Indian classical ragas and Western opera.

“Ulongini naache ronoronge” from Rajarshi, is based on Raga Behag. The singer felt that the song has a trance-like quality which makes it perfect for the setting for the plot. The romantic quality of Tagore’s “Ami rupe tomay bholabona” based on Raga Yaman aptly expresses the mood in the play, Arup Ratan.

The artists were skilfully accompanied by Ratan Bandyopadhyay on the tabla, Soumyojyoti Ghosh on the flute and Pulak Sarkar on the synthesizer.

Tagore’s sensitivity and Roy’s wit were interwoven beautifully in the ‘Rabindra-Dwijendra’ evening organized by Basanti Bidyabithi. The different aspects of the bard’s works and that of Roy’s were presented with èlan.