The eras of The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot were relived on January 4 at the Calcutta Club’s rock evening — Hello Yesterday, partnered by t2. The evening kickstarted at 7pm in the Sir Rajen Mookerjee Hall of the esteemed club. The nostalgic event featured Leslie D’Gama and his counterpart in the first half while Saugata Banerjee and Abhishek Sarkar mesmerised the crowd of 100, in the second half. The event was open to Calcutta Club members and their families.
Veteran singer Leslie D’Gama and his partner delivered songs likeThings We Said Todayby The Beatles,Changesby Gordon Lightfoot,All My Lovingby The Beatles and Man in the Long Black Coatby Bob Dylan. D’Gama said: “When my companion and I performed at the Dalhousie Institute in November, there were some Calcutta Club members in the crowd who requested us to perform here.” When asked about his love for music, he noted: “My love for music goes back to childhood since my dad was a jazz musician and so was I. I’ve been a part of the band High where I played the keyboard and then I had my own band where I played the bass. After being a teacher at St Xavier’s for a while, I became a corporate trainer and now I am playing after 40 years and it is an absolute delight.”
CLUB SPEAK
Dr Ramaditya Ray, chairman, social and cultural committee at the Calcutta Club, said: “We put together an evening where we relive our college and school days. This evening is about nostalgia, which has been curated with two amazing sets of musicians. Who doesn’t like Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen? It is a beautiful trip down memory lane with such a thrilling audience where everyone is enjoying.”
Calcutta Club president, Dr. Abhijit Ghosh said: “It has been a wonderful evening but I would comment on the subject. Why have we called the evening “Hello Yesterday”? The songs being sung today are timeless and immortal. We have been absolutely mesmerised by Bob Dylan, The Beatles and their contemporaries since our childhood. Further, I love the presentation by Saugata, Abhishek and Leslie. We hope to do more events like these in the future.”
We spotted cultural entrepreneur Nandita Palchoudhuri who looked chic in a grey turtleneck. She said: “I am just very excited that Calcutta Club has decided to do something like this that just plugs into our memories. Particularly, Saugata and Abhishek are a duo I have been following for a long while now.”