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Music Unites - World Music Day Celebration

The tunes were lilting. The beats were straight from the heart as performer after performer took the stage and presented their numbers, as if, it was one big family, celebrating an event that touched them all. Sounds a bit esoteric, considering the fact that some of the best known names in their respective domains were there; many having kept professional commitments on hold, that too, on a day of special significance to musicians like them.

The people behind LokFolk

What better place to celebrate it than Kolkata’s very own Urban Cultural Space Akhra@Baitanik at the house of Soumendranath Tagore. Since 2011 banglanatak dot com started Akhra@Baitanik here as a weekend cultural space for all artists to have an accessible venue to showcase on one hand and gifting the appreciative audience of Kolkata with quality and yet free programs every weekend, year round. This World Music Day marked the 160th and the last program of its 5th season.  So the World Music Day also becomes an apt occasion to celebrate this space.

It was interesting learning about MuKast, the app based start up from Sanjoy Das who shared his vision behind the app of creating an ecosystem for the music industry

Jonathan Ward from the US Consulate of Kolkata beautifully put Intellectual Property Rights as a tool for respecting human creativity while sharing the importance that the US Government attaches to IPR

Tapan Desai of Congo Square Jazz Festival in his keynote address talked about world music

Stephane Amalir, Director, Alliance Francaise du Bengale, congratulated banglanatak dot com for carrying the spirit of World Music Day year round
An emotional Ranjan Prasad applauded the work done for revival of lost musical traditions, their collection and curation by banglanatak dot com. Addressing his fellow musicians he said “It is apt that we are all here, celebrating the World Music Day, with the people who are so tirelessly working for such a great cause. I penned and dedicated Shekod theke Shikhore to them”. 

“Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera” strummed Sushmit Bose carrying the audience with him in his inimitable rendition of Jose Martin’s timeless classic, popularized in equal measures by Pete Sager and  Julio Iglesias. But that was along expected lines. What was not, was Jhumuria Subhash Chakraborty taking the globally renowned song and giving it a Jhumur soul, merging the anthem of the revolution of Cuba with that of the Bengali’s love for rebellion everywhere. And it was this spirit of transcendence that made the event – one bereft of the accouterments, but still straddling head and shoulders above the rest, by the virtue of sheer honesty of purpose, quality and content.



The occasion also marked the launch of Best of LokFolk, a compilation from a series of 50 programs on Bengal’s folk music run on Radio BongOnet. Saheb Sharma, the founder of the internet radio along with Suman Chattopadhyay of music label Cozmik Harmony were present at the launch with many of the artists who had contributed to the series.


The heartfelt performances of more than 30 artists and the presence and cheering of so many of their colleagues resonated the true spirit of World Music Day reaffirming our belief…Music Can & Music Will, Unite!!!    









The evening was marked by the performances of :

Riddhi Bandopadhyay; Sushmit Bose; Dipannita Acharya; Ranjan Prasad; Debalina Bhowmick; Sumanta Das Baul; Paridhi, Bumpi, Ratul, Armeen trio’s new project ‘Ekti Bangalir Upakhyan’  (maiden show at Kolkata); Enakkhi Bhattacharya; Subha Prasad Nandi Majumdar; Jhumuria Subhas Chakrabarty; Pranes Som; Joy Sankar; Bablu Das; Madhumita Bhowmick; Sourav Moni; Arijit Chakraborty; Carlos Gonsalves; Gahin Gang; Arpan Chakraborty; Arpita Chakraborty; Sumana Chaudhuri; Amulya  Kumar;  Sanjay Mondal; Biren Das Baul; Indira Mukherjee Bandopadhyay, Tapan Tapadar amd Sashank Sarkar.

Tarun Choudhury, Sandip Ganguly, Arpan Thakur Chakraborty and Sandip Bag deserve a special mention for their instrumentation support to all musicians at the do. 
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