Kolkata’s What’s Up! Café brought Epaar Bangla-Opaar Bangla closer through music on February 21, Bhasha Divas (International Mother Language Day). Bangladeshi band Shonar Bangla Circus stole hearts with their live performance at the rooftop café. The band performed songs from their album Hyena Express, which released in 2020.
The nippy evening witnessed a crowd grooving to catchy tunes like Mrittu Utpadon Karkhana, Amar Naam Oshukh, Ondho Deyal, Epitaph and more.
“Today, we performed all the originals from our album Hyena Express. Bhasha Divas, and our mother tongue is of great significance to all of us. It’s a language for which people are willing to take to the streets or even become martyrs. In Bangladesh, we speak in Bangla and write songs in Bangla,” said Probar Ripon, lead singer and founding member of the band. This was the band’s first time performing at the Kolkata cafe and Ripon was all praise. “The ambience is very nice and it’s a beautiful cafe. It resembles a ship!”
Shonar Bangla Circus is a five member band — founding member, songwriter and lead Probar Ripon; guitarist Seth Panduranga Blumberg, who was a part of the Grammy Award-winning group Kings of Rhythm led by Ike Turner; bassist Shakil Haque; percussionist Hasin Aryan; and producer, keyboardist, composer and arranger Saad Chowdhury.
L-R: Saad Chowdhury, Seth Panduranga Blumberg and Probar Ripon from Shonar Bangla Circus, and Gaurab Chatterjee aka Gaboo of Lakkhichhara
Gaurab Chatterjee aka Gaboo of Lakkhichhara stepped in as the drummer for the evening. “I love Shonar Bangla Circus. Seth, Saad and Ripon are long-time friends. When we had gone to Bangladesh with Kendraka, we had worked with Seth quite a lot,” said the musician, who was “really looking forward to watching them perform” when he heard the band was coming to Kolkata. Due to a turn of events, the band’s drummer couldn’t be there and Gaboo played with Shonar Bangla Circus for the performance. “You must check out their last album, Hyena Express!” he added. “Their songwriting is very different from other bands of Bangladesh. The sound has a ’70s rhythm to it, it’s psychedelic, and the arrangements are very good.”
The band performed original numbers from their 2020 album ‘Hyena Express’
Interestingly, the event initiated an exchange and dialogue through music bringing both the Banglas together on Bhasha Divas. Pradip Chatterjee, one of the founder members of Moheener Ghoraguli, who was present in the audience commented, “I have immense respect for those who use their mother tongue. Music itself is an abstract form. Sometimes, we use language as an abstract as well. Through this abstract we can protest, cry, laugh and do so much. This is also a language with much significance.”
The open-air performance was attended by music lovers, members of Kolkata’s musical community and many others
The live music impressed many in the audience irrespective of age. Many from the Kolkata Bengali band community, independent singers, music lovers, food lovers all joined in to listen to the two-hour performance. Ujaan Mukherjee, a professional singer, who came to watch the performance, said, “I had heard about Shonar Bangla Circus, but never really got the opportunity to see them perform live. This is a very nice initiative taken today where we are displaying a sense of togetherness, a reunion through music and language. It’s an amazing experience.”
