Parash Pathar bands with the best of Tagore

now that rabindranath tagore has come out of the purview of visva-bharati, bangla band parash pathar is all set to launch their third album - a collection of rabindrasangeet - in their own style. the recording will start on january 15 at studio om. asha audio, the pioneers which promoted band music in kolkata, is bringing out the album. d. s. lahiri, partner, asha audio, said: "it's a totally new thing we are doing." though apprehensions remain about how rabindrasangeet admirers will see effort, lahiri is positive the album is bound to be clincher with band music audience."after all, there is always a demand for new songs," said lahiri. so what's new about this album? that rabindrasangeet has a lot of european influence is well known. at least noted singer swagatalakshmi dasgupta's sagarparer hawaa has proved it. parash pathar is going to be different here. while dasgupta rendered the songs in eastern arrangement, parash pathar will be using drums, guitars and keyboards to replace tabla and the harmonium. however, experiments don't mean tampering with the tunes and lyrics. subesh roy, band manager, parash pathar, said, "we have so far recorded around 22 songs. but we haven't yet made the final selection." in the list there are songs like mamo chitte and jadi tor dak shune keu na ashe among others. the final recordings will put have additional orchestration by the ace music director, debajyoti mishra. "the challenge is in re-interpreting tagore," he added. he felt it is time to look at the poet in a new light. "a lot of areas are yet unexplored, that's what we're trying to do," he said. mishra has plans to add sound effects, panflute, viola, cello and various other instruments that'll make rabindrasangeet sound even better. the album will have the poem birpurush, but the recitation will not be in the traditional style. the rock ballad form could give it a new dimension. but there's a discipline, said mishra, bound by tagore's philosophy itself. "ignoring that will spoil the flavour," he said, "so, at the end tagore rules - it's chokher aloe dekhechhilem chokher bahire." the cassette will be released at the book fair or in mid-february.