Raag-Rang Presents Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan

RaagRang presents an afternoon of Hindustani Classical vocal music

by

Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan.

Shree Dibyarka Chatterjee will accompany him on tabla and Shree Madhu Vora will accompany him on Harmonium.

Concert will start with a short vocal rendition by Smt Anindita Sikidar

Venue: Balaji Temple, Bridgewater.

Donation : $15.00 for non-members, $12.00 for members.

$10.00 for the kids(non-member), $7.00 for members.

RSVP will be appreciated.

Contact details: (908)-429-1120, (609)-890-4890, (908)-707-8582.

Or email at bhawmikm@gmail.com,

mayuresh.khare@gmail.com, devang42@yahoo.com

NABC 2010: A Novel Musical Program

Music and NABC go hand in hand together. Most of the events that happen at any NABC are related to music, and NABC 2010 is no exception either. A slew of musicians, like Abhijeet, Monomoy, Anik, Anwesha, Indrani Sen, Sahaj Ma, Utpal Fakir and many others will be performing at the 2010 NABC at the Atlantic City Convention center. Each performer will enchant the audiences with their solo performances on the grand stages of the convention center. However, this year the host organization Kallol of New Jersey is planning something special with these popular and talented musicians. Named as “Surer Ei Jhar Jhar Jharna”, this program will bring on stage all the musicians together to perform some of the most popular songs over the last fifty years of Bengali music. Starting with the haunting melodies of the sixties to the band music of the contemporary Bengali youth, the program will take its audience through an audio-visual journey that has never been experienced before. Continue reading

Hindustani Vocal and Bansuri Jugalbandi

Harrice Miller Entertainment Presents
A Hindustani Classical Jugalbandi

Featuring

Vocalist Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik
and
Flutist Steve Gorn

Performing together for the first time.

Tabla accompaniment by Dibyarka Chatterjee

Sunday June 6, 2010 7.00pm
Nadia Jinnah Gallery
500 West 52nd Street at 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10019

“Ekti Gnaye Thaki” : A Preview

Simanti Dasgupta

ektignaye_norm Many of us will intuitively link the title of the play to Rabindranath Tagore’s well know poem, “Ek Gnaye” and correctly so. Sambhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra particularly immortalized the poem in their rendition of it in Bidhayak Bhattacharya’s celebrated radio play, “Tahar Naamti Ranjana”. “Ekti Gnaye Thaki”, written and directed by Sudipta Bhawmik, is the story of a sister, Ranjana and her brother, Rajat, reuniting after fourteen years. Rajat immigrates to the US with his family after Ranjana sponsors their green cards. The reunion is marked by its usual excitement followed by nostalgia for their “gnya” they left both behind. Rajat becomes a critical link for Ranjana to relive her past, while Ranjana helps him come to terms with his decision to abandon his familiar world in Gobindapur. Ranjana is also ill and Rajat’s presence offers a long-awaited emollient. As the brother and the sister often slip into the past, the rest of the characters are excited at the prospects of their future in the US, especially Rajat’s son, Rajib.

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Musical Chair : An Actor’s Perspective

Musical ChairI wrote the play “Musical Chair” couple of years ago for a local magazine. That time I had no intention of staging the play, rather it was written more as a piece to be read rather than acted. The theatrical format did consider the staging related logistics, but the play demanded a lot from the actors and the director. Keka Sircar took up the challenge and we decided to stage the play along with “Ekti Gnaye Thaki”.  A women director can bring to a play a perspective that is unique and for a play like “Musical Chair” it is almost essential.  Since all the speaking characters in this play are women,  the actors too can present the material in a form that we are not accustomed to in a male dominated stage. The way the play gets interpreted and presented by the women actors can never be achieved from a male perspective.

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