Musical soirees during the festival

With the festive season already underway, people of different communities are busy making their plans to celebrate. Some are going away on a vacation while others are staying back to enjoy Bangalore’s Durga Puja experience.

The good news for music lovers in the City is that there are plenty of cultural programmes to attend!

RT Nagar Sarbajanin Durga Puja Samiti is braced for the festivities and is making its seventh edition bigger than before with Lopa Mudra Mitra’s Bengali renditions on saptami, Tollywood playback singer Somlata Acharya singing on ashtami and Bollywood singer Zubin Garg and Bangalore-based rock band Aurko performing together on nabami.

One of the biggest performances this year is at the Electronic City Cultural
Association (ECCA), where popular singer Usha Uthup will perform on saptami.

“Last year, we had many Bengali bands perform but noticed that the language was a barrier for non-Bengalis in the crowd. By bringing Usha Uthup, there will be songs not only in Bengali but also Hindi, Kannada and Tamil. We’re proud to bring her down for this,” says Abhishek Ghosh, membership secretary, ECCA.

Others like Anandhara are opting for a small but equally meaningful celebration.

“Our own members will be performing adhunik sangeet, Rabindra sangeet and contemporary Bengali songs. We wanted to keep it small-scale and make it a homely experience where the focus is on the puja and everybody gets to be a part of the cultural programme,” informs Anandhara president Ramen Chatterjee.

Poorva Bangalore Cultural Association will feature udbodhoni sangeet by Aditya Vittal and Indrani on shashti, Abritir anginay by Bratati and Surer akashe by Srikanto Acharya on saptami. On nabami, it will host a rock night where Bengali rock band Pritibhi will perform.

Srikanto, who merges Rabindra sangeet with contemporary Bengali songs, seems to be a popular choice this year and will also be the star attraction at Sarjapur Outer Ring Road Bengali Association on shasthi. Their cultural extravaganza will also feature Anindya Bose and Subhamita Banerjee.

What keeps things interesting is how each area can boast of its own celebrations, which means a variety of music spread across the City throughout the festival.

Kanakpura Road Bengali Association’s (KARBA), for instance, will feature Aurko on saptami, a Baul band on ashtami morning followed by an evening of old and new Bengali songs and finally, singers from the television show SaReGaMa ending the celebrations with a Bollywood night on nabami.

 “This year’s celebrations have given us an opportunity to create the musical hungama throughout the festive season. Various groups from all over the place are coming to perform,” says Rajib Roy, general secretary, KARBA.