Poila Boishakh is heralded every year in Bengal with the inauguration of a week long carnival of music by the ministry of Information  and Cultural Affairs, Govt. of West Bengal.All the genres of Bengali music,right from Tagore to the gen y craze Bangla band are given their due shares of reverence in this occasion.This year’s fest was spread across five venues—Rabindra Sadan,Shishir Manch,Girish Manch,Madhusudan Manch, and Mohorkunja(named in memory of the legendary Kanika Banerjee). Apart from soirees the fest was also marked by display of the latest releases from different recording companies,seminars and the quintessential Bengali adda among the music lovers.

Subir Sen

Sangeet Mela primarily focuses on the resurgence of contemporary Bengali music.Along with veterans,the present generation singers share the stage with their popular numbers.Sangeet Mela witnessed a jampacked auditorium on some of the days; stars of yesteryears like Subir Sen(Eto shur aar eto gaan),Banashri Sengupta(Moynamotir pother dharey,Aj bikeler daakey),Madhuri Chatterji(Nijere Haraye Khunji),Nirmala Mishra(O tota pakhi rey) regaled the listeners with their evergreen songs.What was worthpraising was veterans like Pintu Bhattacharya and Madhuri Chatterji were escorted and accompanied on the harmonium by singers Sreekanto Acharya and Saikat Mitra.While Singers like Tapan Roy and Prahlad Brahmachari lived upto the expectations of the audience in their folk songs,bands Bhumi,Chandrabindu gave some powerhouse performances.Rabindra Sangeet singers who left an indelible impact include Srabani Sen(Jetey Jetey Ekla Pothey) Pubali Debnath and Agnibha Banerjee.Albums like Geetinandan(Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty) Pathik Paran,Diganter Gaan(Srabani Sen),Mon Rey Amar(Indrani Sen),Probaashi Pakhi(Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta) were also released during the week long carnival.However,according to a representative from a premier music company,the bulk of the crowd is non –musical,and the sales report is also in a sorry state.

The programme on the concluding session was attended by Chief Minister,Shri Buddhadev Bhattacharya. There was a chaotic rush for the tickets as the last day featured most of the eminent singers of this generation along with some seniors—-Monomoy,Sreekanto Acharya,Shubhomita,Jayati Chakraborty,Sreeradha Banerjee,Arundhati Holme Choudhury,Adhir Bagchi,Anup Ghoshal,Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta.While Anup Ghoshal sounded monotonous with his ‘Gupi-Bagha’ num,bers,Monomoy was at home with Moner Manush and the Tagore number,Tumi Robey Nirobey.Jayati left an imprint of her impeccable taiyari in Megher Baari.But the show was stolen by Sreeradha Banerjee who was flooded with requests—–she started off with Ami Abar Shohoj Hobo,and belted out hits like Banshitar Ektai Dosh and Shoyoney Shoponey.

Sangeet Mela is indeed a place where any music lover would love to pay a visit,but of course the authorities should not include some below-average newcomers who are agonizingly

inaudible and who pale into insignificance right after they leave the stage.

Gaanmela Reporter:
Kaustav Goswami

[Show as slideshow]