City artistes get together for a digital musical project

Ever since the pandemic struck in 2020 and the first lockdown was announced in March, it has been a difficult time for professionals from different sectors, especially from the arts and culture sectors.

Even after the lockdown was lifted, and the government gave permission to conduct open-air events with restrictions, the number of live gigs has been very less, barring some weekly performances at restopubs.

The only resort for independent musicians have been digital shows, and one such mega series of an online live musical show is

Gaan Boithaki

conducted by a city-based non-profit organisation where more than 50 artistes have performed till date. The show will complete its 200th episode today where popular Bengali singer

Ujjaini Mukherjee

, who has also sung a few Bollywood numbers, will perform live.

Sayok Das, the brains behind this digital event, said, “For many of us, we found respite amidst such dark times through arts and culture and thus, it was my small effort to bring together the renowned singers and musicians of our city for a digital concert. It has been over a year now that this online project is continuing. Due to the pandemic, when people were either panicking or feeling bored at home, we came up with this new musical project to bring a smile on their faces and spread happiness and positivity.”

Some of the popular singers who performed in the show include Neil Mukherjee, Pata,

Gourab Sarkar

,

Koushik Chakraborty

, Kaustav Banerjee, Avirup Das, Shovan Ganguly, Timir Biswas, Durnibar Saha,

Deb Chowdhury

, Sharoni Poddar, Prashmita Paul, Soumya and Ashmi Bose and many others.

Veteran television actress and singer Swagata Mukherjee, who also performed a Bengali folk song from her own album in the show, said, “When all the doors were shut, when shootings were stalled and we were facing extremely difficult times, Gaan Boithaki came as a ray of hope of doing something different yet creative from the confines of our homes. I am glad that Sayok and his team have been able to carry on with this digital project for so long. My best wishes are always with them.”

Singer Sonali Banerjee, one of the finalists of a Bengali music reality show, shared, “It was a pleasure for me to perform online live in Gaan Boithoki. In this situation, when all social meet ups and cultural events are prohibited, this was an amazing platform for the artistes where they could showcase their talents. We could virtually reach out to many people through our music. It was really a great experience for me.”

Another singer Arkadeep Mishra echoed similar thoughts. “This initiative has been an eminent platform in social media for independent music and it brings before us some really talented and undiscovered set of musicians in front of the audience,” she added.

Senior Rabindrasangeet exponent, Manoj Murali Nair, said, “I had the opportunity to watch a couple of episodes of Gaan Boithaki and perform in one such programme. Taking Tagore’s music to the young generations and capturing their imagination have always been important to me. I also feel thrilled to see so many talented new faces in the music scene of Bengal and such excellent work being done by Sayok and his team in providing a platform to these budding artistes.”