Those who missed the Salil Chowdhury centenary tribute will get another chance to watch an edited version of the concert available for ticketed online viewing from January 22 for 30 days.

The legendary composer turned 100 on November 19 and tributes have been pouring in since, though the biggest was the one organised at Kala Mandir.

In 2002, when Salil Chowdhury’s 77th birth anniversary was celebrated, the concert, with full backing of the state government, was held at the Salt Lake stadium. Six hours fell inadequate, such was the galaxy of singers who had converged from across the country.

Twenty-three years later, when the legendary poet-lyricist-composer’s centenary was being celebrated, Kala Mandir was the venue chosen. But once the booking of seats was opened, some of the organisers regretted the decision. “We should have gone for a bigger venue. All tickets got sold in a day and a half. We had to refuse so many requests for attendance,” Kalyan Sen Barat, vice-president of Anandapur Salil Chowdhury Birth Centenary Society, told t2.

The Chowdhury siblings — Sanjay, Antara and Sanchari

The full house was treated to five-and-a-half hours of music. “The audience stayed put till the end, at 10.30pm,” said Antara Chowdhury, the force behind the event.

The marquee artiste of the evening was Kavita Krishnamurthy, who had flown over for the 2002 concert as well. The singer, who had sung in a devotional album released a year before Chowdhury’s death on Swami Vivekananda, was accompanied by her husband L. Subramaniam. The violin maestro has recorded an instrumental version of Na jeyona in tribute, which was played.

There was a flurry of releases to commemorate the occasion. Subramaniam and society president Goutam Ghose, along with other office-bearers, Barat and Srikanta Acharya, released a book compiled by Dey’s Publishing, comprising Chowdhury’s discography and a compilation of writings on him by colleagues, both living and departed. An ink created in his honour by Sulekha and a Salil Chowdhury calendar followed.

There was a touch of nostalgia in not just the music but also the presence of some of Chowdhury’s associates. While Buddhadeb Ganguly and Rocket Mandal took turns to conduct the musicians, Sunil Kaushik, who had played the electric guitar in mid-70’s Chowdhury hits in Anand, Rajnigandha, Chhoti Si Baat and others, had been invited from Mumbai to perform. Haimanti Shukla shared memories of Chowdhury in between songs.

It was reunion time for the Chowdhury siblings. Sanjoy, who got released from hospital in time to make it to the concert, shares his birthday with his father and marked it by playing the cajon with some of the songs. “I used to play the drums with Baba,” he told t2. Sanchari flew in from Germany and sang in chorus with Antara. “It is only on reaching here that I was told that I’d have to sing. I hadn’t done so in ages,” she confessed to t2, while recording bits of the programme on her phone.

Antara put her heart and soul into the event, not just in training her young students who sang “Salil Sangeet” in chorus, but also in bringing everyone together.

Her challenge now is to keep her father’s music playing on. “Apart from streaming the show online, I have plans to hold centenary concerts in Mumbai and Kerala, as well. I will also appeal to the government for a Metro station in Baba’s name,” said Antara.