The Russians have always borne a deep affection for Indian culture. Even if their laal topi had been a symbol of the socialist “Russi”, their dil had been Hindustani. It was fitting, therefore, for the Russian consulate and Abhinandan to team up and pay tribute to Tagore through “Geetanjali” — a programme of songs by Aniruddha Sinha and Sudeshna Basu — on June 8, at Gorky Sadan. The programme can be shortly summed up as “monochromatic” — a dull grey pervading the mood, in spite of the two vocalists trying their utmost to tinge it with the brilliant hues of spring, the ruddy gold of autumn and the myriad shades of romance. The dismal rendition of duets like “Aaj dhaner khetey” and “Tai tomar ananda”, and the rather inept handling of meend and gamak by Sudeshna Basu left the entire effort off-colour. Notes often went astray; the cautious, faltering attempts at striking the right chords of the komal swar in solos like “Aabar eshechhey ashaarh”, “Rup sagarey dub” and the less-popular yet vivacious baul version of “Ei to tomar prem” set in kaharba taal, left Basu with only a couple of songs like “Megher porey megh” to her full credit. One expected Aniruddha Sinha to make up for the shortfall, but he too was not in his elements. Where was the fervour in a creation like “Aamar khela jokhon”? “Kolahol to baron holo” seemed to indicate Sinha’s disregard for the notes. He chose to display some of his natural abilities occasionally in songs like “Aaji ei gandha bidhur”. The programme was, on the whole, run-of-the-mill.

Mohua Mitra

Paying a homage

Shinjan Nrityalaya presented an evening of Odissi dance at Gyan Manch on May 29. To pay homage to the great maestro, Kelucharan Mahapatra, Muralidhar Majhi, Giridhari Nayak, Gayatri Chatterjee and Rani Karna shared their good old memories of this great guru. It was followed by a brief Odissi recital, presented by the students of the institution under the guidance of Aloka Kanoongo, a senior disciple of Kelucharan Mahapatra. The programme commenced with mangalacharan, an invocatory number by Diyashini, Trisha and Shinjoyee. Kaberi Sen proved her mettle in pallavi, a pure dance number based on raga Arvi. She painted the beautiful raga by blending crisp bols and gentle gliding movements with delicate rhythmic patterns. The programme concluded with “Dashavatar”, a group choreography by Ishita Mondol, Sangeeta Talapatra, Triparna Bhattacharya and Saheli Mukherjee.

Sharmila Basu Thakur