The quartet of Swapna Ghoshal, Goutam Mitra, Suranjan Roy and Sanghamitra Gupta — perhaps one of the most impressive line-ups beyond the usual bigwigs — recently came together on an over-the-top platform to discuss the current state of Rabindrasangeet through songs and discussion. The session was titled Achho Antare. Guiding them through the narrative was the ace vocalist, Prabuddha Raha, whose organization brought the group together to discuss the advent of not only the unconventional crisis the world is going through but also how Rabindranath Tagore’s creations perhaps act like a form of therapy and give people hope in these times.

Most of the musicians mentioned above were of the opinion that the current lot of singers are breaking the basic structures of Tagore’s songs in a bid to draw quick attention and hype. They added that today, performances of his creations have perhaps become more about ‘body language’ than ‘vocal prowess’. To substantiate their claims, they sang in bits and pieces to the demands of the huge online audience that kept filling the platform. Suranjan Roy reminded viewers of the tremendous lineage that he comes from, and the two songs — “Boshe achhi hey” and “Khelaghar bandhte legechhi” — bore testimony to that. Of Swapna Ghoshal’s two songs, “Hridayo nandano boney” brought back many memories.

Sanghamitra Gupta fell into all sorts of technological difficulties throughout the session but put her stamp on “Ei kothata dhore rakhish”. Goutam Mitra’s famous baritone was intact in “Jodi haaye jibono purano” even as he kept providing colourful vignettes to the recording session of the song.

Raha came in towards the end to soulfully sing the rarely heard but relevant “Shanti koro borishono”. He proved to be an excellent moderator, as he led the senior singers towards articulating thoughts on the main theme and then goading them on to sing at the right moments. Technological glitches aside, the evening was a novel one.