Forgotten melodies Between 1945 and 1951 Salil Chowdhury composed some of his most momentous, important political songs. They were significant both with regard to their political impact as well as in their textual, tonal and structural novelty, which proclaimed the then young composer’s uniqueness. It is estimated that he composed over 50 such songs, only a few of which were recorded and released. The rest were, unfortunately, forgotten or were lost. After his demise, many of these songs were rediscovered with the help of some of the original members of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) who were closely connected to the departed music composer. After several years of research and hard work, the lyrics and the melodies of these songs were firmly established and authenticated. A selection of 12 songs from this period has been recorded by IPTA singers and others. Their musical arrangement was done with great care, keeping in mind Chowdhury’s distinctive style. Songs of Consciousness, this evening’s programme, features the presentation of these numbers along with commentary and discussion. Participants: Dr Samir Gupta, Tathagata Bhattacharya, Sumangala Damodaran and others. The recital will be preceded by an introduction by Gautam Choudhury and a welcome address by Karunasindhu Das, vice-chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University. lEvent: A programme of Salil Chowdhury’s unpublished mass songs lWhen: Today at 6 pm lWhere: Spandan, 87 Park Street

Art

Till September 9 (except Sunday) at Emami Chisel Art Pvt. Ltd, Emami Towers, 687 Anandapur, E.M. Bypass, #40113182/83; 11 am - 7 pm: Emami Chisel presents Bikash Bhattacharjee: A retrospective exhibition of paintings. August 29 & 30 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery; 12 noon - 8 pm: Exposure hosts an art exhibition to enhance awareness on literacy and economic activities for sex workers through its mission, Path. Till August 29 at Galerie Karma, P-505 Keyatola Road; 11 am - 7 pm: The 3rd group exhibition of Rangan. Featuring paintings and graphics by Abhijit Paul, Anjana Mukherjee, Hirack Chand, Ruma Bera, Sabyasachi Borah and Sandeep R Chowdhury. Till August 29 at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue, 1st floor; 1 pm - 7 pm: Chitrangan (school of fine arts) presents its 25th anniversary show of drawings and paintings. August 29 at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Road; 6.30 pm: Opening of Maihar Art Retreat, an exhibition of the works produced by 25 artists in Maihar, where they spent a few days with each other, in 2008. The show will continue till September 19 (except Sundays), 11 am to 7 pm. August 30 at GF 1 Mukund, 6/1/3 Queens Park; 6.30 pm: Preview of Beena Pradhan’s exhibition of her latest paintings. To be inaugurated by Jogen Chowdhury, Pranabranjan Ray and Bobby Mazumdar. The paintings will be on display at Birla Academy of Art & Culture from September 1 to 6. Till August 30 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Santanu Roy, Mihir Maitra and Sunil Sarkar. Till August 30 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: Man of Bronze — an exhibition of bronze studies of Bengal’s celebrities and embroidered paintings on canvas by Swapan Maity and Susmita Maity. Till August 30 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphics by the awardees at the Annual Exhibition 2009 of Birla Academy. Participants: Amlan Dutta, Anupam Das, Avijit Mukherjee, Debashree Das, Harjit Saha, Manjushree Chakraborty and Sujit Karan. Till September 6 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal; 10 am - 11 pm: A solo exhibition of recent works by Dilip Chaudhury. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. Till September 10 (except Sundays) at Tejas Art Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, #98300 49825; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: An exhibition of affordable artwork: prints, small canvases, woodcuts, lithos, patachitras, paperworks, etc.

TALK

August 29 at Mahatma Aswini Datta Memorial Committee, 94/2 Park Street; 6 pm: The CFA Council is organising a seminar on Effective Banking Supervision: A Necessity More than Regulation. Speaker: Manoj Kumar Poddar, CFA, manager, Reserve Bank of India. August 29 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay will speak in Bengali on Dharma, Darshan O Vijnan. August 29 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Tattwajnanananda will speak on Kenopanishad. August 29 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Paramatmananda will speak on Mrityu Rahasya. August 29 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Dr Shyamal Kumar Chakraborty will speak on Swami Shishya Sambad.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till August 30 at Madhusudan Mancha; 5.30 pm: West Bengal State Music Academy, in association with West Bengal Dance Group Federation, hosts Nritya-Natya (dance-drama) Festival 2009. Today: Raas Leela (Dir: Debamitra Sengupta) by Mayur Lalit, Haradhanu (Dir: Bidhan Roychowdhury) by Kasba Nabadiganta Society, and Devdasi Devdatta produced by Lokranjan Sakha. Tomorrow: Daitya O Jadukar (Dir: Mehboob Hasan) by Chhandam, Burdwan; Sabujer Deshe (Dir: Arpita Venkatesh) by Malasree; and Alibaba (Dir: Kashmira Samanta) by Nritya Upasana. August 29 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Nazrul Prayan Divas 2009 — Rabindra Sadan, under the department of information and cultural affairs, Government of West Bengal, is organising a tribute to Kazi Nazrul Islam on his death anniversary. Event: Nazrul Prayan Dibashe Kabi Bandana — an evening of Nazrul songs and recitation. Participants: Biman Mukhopadhyay, Kalyani Kazi, Nilima Bandyopadhyay, Pintu Bhattacharya, Haimanti Shukla, Indrani Sen, Anindita Kazi, Shaktibrata Das, Bijaylakshmi Barman, Prabir Brahmachari and others. August 29 at Triguna Sen Hall, Jadavpur University; 6 pm: An evening of Dhrupad: Vocal recital by Ashoka Dhar Nandy, with Rishabh Dhar on the pakhawaj. This will be conjuncted with a dance performance by Sayantani. August 29 at Sarat Sadan, Howrah; 5.30 pm: HSBC Employees’ Union presents its annual show featuring hand-shadowgraphy by Amar Sen, and group song and ballet by Calcutta Choir. August 29 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 6.30 pm: An evening of Lucknowi Shyam — a Kathak dance recital by Sushmita Banerjee. August 30 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Dancers’ Guild pays tribute to its founder Dr Manjusri Chaki Sircar on her 75th birth anniversary with an evening of three choregraphic numbers: Gangavataran, Krouncho Katha and Jajnaseni.

DRAMA

August 29 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sudrak will stage two short plays: Hothat Sedin and Roop Sagar. August 29 at Purbashree, Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, EZCC, Salt Lake; 6 pm: Little Thespian presents Katha Collage-4, with Uma Jhunjhunwala, S.M. Azhar Alam, Rahim Pirani, Dev and Hiena Parwez comprising the cast. Design & direction: Uma Jhunjhunwala. August 29 at Rangana Theatre; 6 pm: To mark the centenary of the staging of D.L. Roy’s Shahjahan, Natyachhanda will stage this well-known production under the direction of Manab Roy along with felicitation to Basanti Chatterjee, Paran Banerjee, Menoka Das and Bhanu Biswas. August 29 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Purba-Paschim will stage Chaturanga. Dir: Bratya Basu. August 29 at Sujata Sadan; 7 pm: Swapnasandhani presents its latest play, Darjiparar Marjinara. Direction: Koushik Sen. August 30 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Theatre Workshop presents Jadiyo Galpo, directed by Ashok Mukhopadhyay.

EXHIBITION

August 29 - September 3 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace; 10 am - 7 pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal presents Agomoni 2009: A celebration of life, an exhibition of textiles and accessories. Till August 30 at Netaji Indoor Stadium; 11 am - 9 pm: CREDAI Bengal is organising Home Front 2009, a residential property exhibition. Till August 31 at 5/1 Anil Moitra Road, #2440 8926/27; 9.30 am - 6.30 pm: Weavers Studio presents Khadi Walk, a collection of yardage, dupattas, sarees in a variety of textures and colours by Dastakar from Andhra Pradesh. Till August 31 at 40B Vivekananda Road, near Girish Park, #9903995499: Brandss Itt!! presents its Puja collection of branded garments for men, women and children. Till August 31 at Senbati, Mandevilla Gardens; 10.30 am - 8 pm: Poompuhar, The Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation presents an exhibition of bronze icons, wood carvings, black metal, Tanjavur paintings, stone carvings, perfumed candles, sandalwood and jewellery. Till September 6 at 14/97 Golf Club Road, #9830027308, 24734546; 2 pm - 8 pm: Sravasti presents KeyaChaitali’s exclusive fair of kurtas, photuas, short kurtas, T-shirts, salwar-kurtas, wrap-around sets, saradins, nakshikantha, batik, appliqued, block-printed cotton and silk sarees, dupattas and scrafs, blouse pieces, costume jewellery and bags. Till September 7 at 10 Satyen Dutta Road, #2465 1697; 11 am - 8 pm: Toontooni holds a Puja collection of exclusive sarees and kantha items for men and women.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244