The spirit of Suchitra Mitra’s songs was captured by Rabitirtha Praktani and Korak in a recent tribute at ICCR. Pranati Tagore and Korak Basu effectively joined the musical pieces with their narrative, highlighting important links in Mitra’s journey. Siddharth Bhattacharjee’s uncoventional percussion gave singers a fillip, such as in “Amaar ei path chawatei anando” by Sudeshna Chatterjee (picture). She also splendidly performed “Ghate boshe achi anmona”. Ranjini Mukherjee’s rendition of “Ogo tumi panchadasi” was reminiscent of her aunt, Kanika Bandopadhyay.
In both “Dewa neya” and “Tomay natun kore pabo bole”, Rajashree Bhattacharya relied more on her booming tenor than the charm of Tagore’s lyrics. This could have been avoided given the powerful microphone already imposing over a small audience. Same with Agnibha Banerjee whose “Na bachabe amay jodi” was perfect as a rendition but could have been subtler. In contrast, the chorus got the pitch right with “Kanna hashir dol dolano”, “Bipulo tarango” and “Kon puraton praner taane”.
