Sourendra Mullick (on piano) and Soumyojit Das perform at ‘You & I.. a musical concert for Love’, at the St Xavier’s College auditorium

It was an evening of music and musings at the St Xavier’s College auditorium on Thursday as spirits soared with the Valentine’s Day mood at a gig titled ‘You & I.. a musical concert for Love’, held in association with The Telegraph. Ideated by Sourendra Mullick and Soumyojit Das, a young pair that works on experimental music, the show weaved in raagas, Western numbers and Tagore’s ballads for an interesting mix of love songs spanning the decades.

The father-son duo of Anjan and Neel Dutt, with the rest of their Music Folk gang, rolled out English romantic hits to celebrate some of the greatest love song writers from the Fifties down to the Seventies. While Anjan used his low baritone to croon Elvis Presley’s It’s Now Or Never followed by a taste of Jim Reeves, Donovan and Bob Dylan, Neel joined in with his share of Beatles and John Denver. Standing on a dais decked with red satin drapes and red rose bouquets, Anjan narrated interesting anecdotes on his love affair with the city and the “gamut of pop music” with which he grew up. From slushy sentimental numbers, Anjan moved over to peppy beats to end the first part of the show with his hit Mary Anne and also egged the audience to join in on Purano shei diner kotha.

(Top) Anjan and Neel Dutt belt out some golden oldies; (above) Moubani Sorcar matches Odissi steps to Soumyojit’s music. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The second phase had organisers Soumyojit perform an Indian classical vocal to the tune of Sourendra on the grand piano. The duo went on to explore five phases of love through ragas, thumris and piano sonatas, backed by tabla, bass and drums. The final phase of their act was a surprise, as Moubani Sorcar joined the two on stage to match her Odissi steps to Soumyojit’s rendition of a Carnatic thillana.

After an impressive performance, the stage was set for a change of mood as singer Sraboni Sen and elocutionist Ratna Mitra had the audience soaking in Tagore’s world of poetry and songs such as Amar praaner porey and Tomar shonge praaner khela.

A 70-page book titled You & I... in Love with works by Shakespeare and Kalidasa alongside write-ups by Mamata Banerjee, Suvaprasanna and others was launched by mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya.

Mohua Das