The Paschimbanga Bangla Academy on Rabindra Sadan hosted some eminent names from music and movies on March 16 for the launch of a smart card that is sure to be a snazzy upgrade to your music-playing practices. Smart Album, pioneered by Purnendu Bikas Sarkar, is a physical smart plastic card that allows you direct access to music and various forms of entertainment without you having to manually look up the song via digital media yourself.

The Smart Album card comes with the name of the song/album and the artiste’s name, photograph, and details printed on one side while the other side has a QR code. One can now simply scan the QR on the Smart Album with a smartphone scanner, after which one will be directed to an online album via which the song will play. The Smart Album also comes with a jacket to help preserve it.

Pramita Mallik

The launch at the Bangla Academy was attended by Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, singer Pramita Mallick, poet Subodh Sarkar, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, and singer Rupam Islam. Purnendu Bikas Sarkar, the man of the moment, demonstrated the abilities of Smart Album via an audio-visual presentation. “Artistes work very hard to bring their craft to us but are hardly appreciated as they ought to be. It’s also difficult to find very niche songs on the internet. Smart Album is a solution to this. By scanning the code on the card, one will be directed to the digital album, and the song will play by itself, without any other physical involvement,” he explained.

Speaking at the launch, Shoojit Sircar said: “This initiative deserves a lot of recognition. The fact that Dr Basu cares so much about art and artistes is commendable, and the way he has pioneered this achievement without any monetary support or hope for monetary gain is a testament to that. My best wishes are with him for this venture.”

Rupam Islam remarked: “I listen to all kinds of music on all kinds of platforms. I collect records, CDs and cassettes, so the fact that we get to have a physical copy of our favourite songs in the form of a card in today’s digital age is a great achievement. I believe that this card is just the beginning. It is sure to evolve even further and create magic in the music scene in the future.”

Rupam Islam, Shoojit Sircar

“The concept itself is very interesting. It will be easier to listen to songs, poetry and audiobooks now. What’s best is the cards themselves are very inexpensive, so people can easily access them if they like,” said Subodh Sarkar.