Srijan’s presentation, Basante Aaj, took place on an open-air rooftop, which was the perfect setting for the music and the open-ended narrative presented at the event.

Of the songs sung by Suchhanda Ghosh, “Anek dinermoner manush” lingered on the audience’s mind as she changed the mood of her performance to suit the song. For the rest of her offerings that evening, she played to her strengths, using her prowess to cleverly articulate “Barota peyechi monemone”, “Amaar bhanga pother rangadhulaye” and “Aaha aji e basante”.

Worth noting was the delicate music she used to bridge the gap between the line, “porechekaar payerchinho”,and the next one in thesong, “Amarbhanga potherranga dhulaye”,making for rhythmically ambient listening.The evening commenced with two robust choric performances led by Tania Das. Both “Madhabi hothath kothahote” and “Aajkhela bhangarkhela” maintained their distinctive structure and melody. No surprises there. The ever-dependable Manomay Bhattacharya delivered songs in his usual deft and inspired way.

While “Tumi sandhar meghomala”sounded calm and elegant in Bhattacharya’s honey-dewed voice,one found him fiercely independent in “Eki labonye purna prano”. On request, he also sang the poignant “Dibasho rajani ami jeno kaar”, creating a haunting aura of uncertainty, solidarity and hope.

Apart from reading portions of a song and dance ensemble titled “Bedona hote bedone”, Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee vocalised “O je maanena mana”, which had moments of sweetness as well as a dreamy controlled glide. Subrata Mukherjeeon the keyboard provided his trademark accompaniment to most of the singers.