Hers was a life of dignity and dignified singing. Little wonder then that the Rabindrasangeet singer, Purba Dam, got rich tributes after her death recently. SPCKraft’s Ashim Ganer Resh heralded by Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee on social media had Dam’s contemporaries with newer singers and it was a memorable evening. One just wondered why songs popularized by her like “Na bujhe kare tumi” were not sung.

But Ashish Bhattacharya’s expertise shone in “Aaro kato dure”, displaying remarkable ease in all the octaves. Srabonti Basu Bandopadhyay’s “Hridoye chile jege” was excellently sung with grace and poise. Sasha Ghoshal was bold and self-assured self in “Probhu aaji tomar”. Notable renditions also came from Sanghamitra Gupta, Deblamya Chatterjee, Priyom Mukherjee, Monomoy Bhattacharya, Sraboni and Jayati Chakraborty. Suchanda Ghosh started off on a bold note with “Akash amaye bhorlo” but sounded strained in the higher octaves.

Veteran singers, Sumitra Ray and Pramita Mullick, reminisced about Dam’s personality and her training from Suchitra Mitra. Dam’s daughter, Koeli Sarkar, highlighted how her disciples were like her children and spoke about her relationship with her mother too.