Thanks to modern technology and remastered versions, we can listen to Birendra Kishore Bhadra’s Chandipath without any radio static. For those who still miss the Mahalaya flavour of yore, Ahiritola Sarbojonin in north Kolkata has brought back the essential soundtrack of the day with all its background noise and nostalgia.
The puja started playing this new-old version of Chandipath from its pandal a day before Mahalaya.
“We wanted the Chandipath to sound as if it is being played on a radio, with all the external noises and signal interferences,” said Debjyoti Jana, the theme maker of the puja.
“The output of gramophone records and radios was not as clear as that of digital music that we stream now. So I have added some pre-set noise and radio effects to the original Chandipath to give it a twist,” said musician Shamik Guha Roy, who has come up with the soundtrack for the puja.
“It took a total of 10 days to make it and I thoroughly enjoyed the work,” added Guha Roy.
The theme of the puja is the golden age of Bengali music, when the festival meant new music albums along with new clothes and food. For decades, renowned Bangla singers used to release their best works on Puja. In keeping with the theme, a giant metal gramophone and an installation made with a number of old radios have been used to decorate the pandal.
