Kalapi, a New Town AB Block-based cultural and social group, organised a show at Upasana Griha to pay homage to Rabindranath Tagore.
Most of the participants were homemakers in their 40s and 50s who, despite the inclement rainy weather, were full of enthusiasm. The event commenced with offering flowers and garland to the bard’s picture.
Singers and the audience together sang a prayer song Sokatare oi knadichhe while a scripted musical item Hridoye anjali hote momo was performed by Srabanti Biswas, Pragnya Dasgupta and Mousumi Bandhopadhyay. “I have been associated with Kalapi for the past few months and my experience has been wonderful. I eagerly wait for my classes on Saturday and love to be a part of these shows,” said Sathi Ghosh, one of the participants.
The programme included nine chorus songs like Antoro momo bikoshito koro, Kobe aami bahir holem, Samukhe shanti parabar and Amar je shob dite hobe. There were 28 members in the chorus.
There was also a solo performance of the song Protidin ami he jibon swami by the director of Kalapi, Rina Datta.
“Kalapi was founded in 2016 when I moved to New Town. Here in the township, I saw many elderly residents in depression as their children were settled abroad and they were lonely. I thought this void could be filled with music,” said Datta, adding that she never thought she would get so many students of varying ages of six to 60-plus. For this show, I thought some songs would be difficult for the singers but they would pick them up in a single day. I was amazed by their dedication,” she said.
“Rina drew me back to music after 25 years. My children live abroad and I was so lonely that I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for music and Rina. My husband encourages me to attend classes too. He is here with me,” said one of the singers, Sumita Mukherjee.
Most of the audience consisted of spouses and friends of the performers, who said they thoroughly enjoyed the programme.
