User:Cpriyanath

Imagine Dhritiman Chatterji’s distinctive voice floating across the House of Lords as he (playing Karna) tries to comfort Anusuya Mazumder (Kunti). Or, Soumitra Chatterjee’s baritone recreating a boy’s fantasy of a chivalrous world with Birpurush. An evening sometime in June will see the launch of a four-CD album on the works of Rabindranath Tagore in the House of Lords, featuring Karna Kunti Sambad, Kshudhita Pashan, Phanki and some of the Bard’s poems for children. The project is a collaboration between the London-based Bithika Raha, who runs Nrityakala, and Eternal Records, a music company located in Kolkata and London The album comprising the English recitations will be available in all music stores across London. “The reason behind marketing the album in London is to tap the second-generation NRI Bengalis who don’t read or speak their mother tongue. Then, there are the non-Bengalis and Europeans who also take a lot of interest in anything Indian,” says Priyanath Chatterjee, a sitar player based in London and also the proprietor of Eternal Records. The first of the quartet is Karna Kunti Sambad, translated by Ketaki Kushari Dyson, and read by Dhritiman Chatterjee and Anusua Mazumder. The piece will also feature a stotra path by Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty. The second CD has actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty reading out the poem Phanki in the original and in English. It has been translated as Deception by William Radice. The third in the series is dedicated to Tagore’s works for children. The six popular poems — Birpurush, Proshno, Banshi, Pratiksha, Chhutir Ayojan and Aguner Parashmoni — have been recited by Soumitra Chatterjee. Some excerpts from Daakghar and a sprinkling of Tagore’s letters may also be added to this part, says Priyanath. The fourth, and perhaps the most ambitious of the lot, is a reading of the short story Kshudhita Pashan. The performers include Dhritiman and Sabyasachi. An English version, titled Hungry Stone, is also being worked out. Chatterjee has conceived an elaborate music direction for each of the four albums involving Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Pandit Jasraj, Shubha Mudgal and six musicians from Scotland. “Tagore had derived some of his tunes from traditional Scottish music. We are reworking some of the original tracks into the albums,” says Priyanath. A melange of foreign instruments like saxophone, piano, keyboards and African koda have been used alongside sarengi, esraj, sarod, sitar and tabla.