Sursangam thoughtfully assembled a clutch of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs from a collection called Shanai that dovetail into poetry and grouped them thematically. The event took place at Sisir Mancha recently under the title, Rupantari. While the recitations were sometimes long and not dramatic enough, the keyboard and the background music by the experienced Debasis Saha punctuated the sequences with a foundational sense of rhythm and brought in a breath of fresh air.
The renditions were slightly uneven owing to the flicks and the tremors of the vocal lines and the piano accompaniments not being precisely in sync. However, the two performances that stood out were “Haater dhula” by Indrani Saha and “Ekdin chine nebe taare” by Moushumi Bandopadhyay. Both singers showed finely honed prowess, skipping through light falsettos and keeping pace with the percussion. Bandopadhyay’s seemingly faultless grasp over the intricacies brought in the first genuine applause from the audience.
Veteran Debarati Shome’s “Dinanto belay” had some smouldering moments where she elongated certain bits — this is a skill which comes with maturity. Her “Jara bihan belay”, on the other hand, was bold and insistent, but stopped just a notch below being full-throated. Swapan Shome kept an even pace with “Aaji kon shure badhibo”, although his voice often strayed into uneven paths. While the duet by Swarup and Swati Pal, “Ajana khonir”, had moments of awkward compromise and those in which their voices clashed, they sounded melodious. Swagatam Das (tabla) and Debasish Haldar (esraj) supported the singers ably.
