Visva-Bharati ex- vice-chancellor Sujit Basu at the CDROM launch. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Imagine staying in Botswana, Canada or Japan and learning Rabindrasangeet from the likes of Ritu Guha, Subinoy Roy, Pramita Mullick, Rezwana Chowdhury Bonya, Avirup Guhathakurata and Suranjan Roy. Imagine them singing a line over and over again so that you can get your tune and nuance right. Thanks to an interactive distance learning system developed by city-based AKA Systems, this will no longer remain a pipedream.

Rabindrasangeet Lessons, the interactive CDROM recently launched by the company, features software and lesson modules of 50 popular Tagore songs and 50 MP3 karaoke tracks. The CDROM can be run on a Pentium III/IV personal computer with a CD drive, speakers and microphone.

Conceived in 2003 by Avijit Patronobis, Kaustav Ghosh and Abhi Basu, a limited edition of this CD was sold at the 2005 edition of the North American Bengali Conference for $50. It is now available for Rs 650 at leading city outlets.

Anandadhara.com, also developed by AKA Systems, has been offering a Rabindrasangeet distance-learning programme over the Internet since 2003. The CDROM will dispense with the need for the learners to have access to the Internet, said Patronobis, a former member of Krosswindz.

There is backup music for each song on the CDROM. The lyrics are also available in English and Bengali script. The Bengali sarolipi and notations are provided as well. Links on the right side of the screen provide background information about the songs.

One can refer to notes from the guru and by selecting words and phrases check their meaning and pronunciation. There are also options to select the portion of a song one wants to hear and how many times.