The audience at Rabindra Sadan braved the rain on Sunday to gather for the love of music and to celebrate the musical journey of singer Manomay Bhattacharya.
Behala Sanskritik Sammilani celebrated 25 years of the singer’s career with musical evening, Pochish Periye Manomay, on April 30. My Kolkata was the digital media partner for the event.
Poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay moderated the event and engaged in conversation with Manomay Bhattacharya
The programme provided a perfect blend of conversation and music between poet Srijato Bandyopadhyay and Manomay Bhattacharya.
“I am glad to be a part of this celebration because personally, I am also very fond of Manomay both as a singer and a person. And it is great to see so many people gathered here today with the same affection to listen to him,” Srijato said.
Member, mayor in council, KMC, Debashish Kumar (centre) attended the event
The curtains went up with Manomay singing a devotional song, Taare je prabhu bolish, by Rajanikanta Sen followed by Rabindrasangeet, Nazrulgeeti and various other timeless compositions by musical stalwarts.
In between his songs, Manomay addressed the audience. “I am overwhelmed to see the crowd here today in spite of the rain. I am thankful to Behala Sanskritik Sammilani and all of you here who have joined us today. I hope you enjoy the songs,” he said.
Indranil Sen, MLA and singer; Debashish Kumar, member, mayor-in-council, and artiste and curator Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee were in the audience.
“I am not from a musical background. But I love listening to good music and singers. Manomay is not just a good singer but he is also a nice person. I am happy to be a part of this celebration today and hope he moves ahead to achieve greater success,” Debasish Kumar said.
Akash Bhattacharya, Manomay’s son, launched his first composition at Rabindra Sadan
The song line-up comprised hits like Bodhua amar chokhey, Jodi jante go tumi jante, Jodi neel kuashay, Brishti brishti saradin and more.
The singer also spoke about his gurus and inspirations from Manna Dey, Salil Chowdhury, Ajoy Chakrabarty to Biman Mukhopadhyay, Sukumar Moitra, Jatileshwar Mukherjee and more.
A song composed by Manomay’s son Akash Bhattacharya and sung by the veteran singer was officially launched and screened on the occasion. “The song was written and the music was composed by my son as a part of his assignment given to him by his guru Rathijit Bhattacharjee. Rathi also arranged the music for the song,” said the proud father.
The celebrations surrounding the singer’s journey of 25 years left the audience mesemerised
Mousumi Bagchi, singer and musical guru who attended the evening with her students and friends, said: “We all are here for Manomay. It is needless to say that we adore his voice, evident from the huge applause after every song. I personally love Nazrulgeeti in his voice and I am glad we got to hear a few this evening.”
