Shankar Chakraborty's new act

While there is no English synonym to exactly capture the emotional essence and cultural connotation that the word, "khyapa" brings to mind, people in rural Bengal use this as a term of endearment. The often-used words crazy, lunatic and madcap do make a close semblance though. The bauls and fakirs of rural Bengal are more popularly called "khyapa" – the word used as a suffix to their names. The other aspect is that every individual has a streak of madness that can also make them "khyapa". To keep this inner childlike delight alive and encourage a passionate bond with your most cherished folk poetry and folk songs, a beautiful blend of the two called Khyapa will be organised at an event on September 8.
A small team of three artistes – actor Shankar Chakraborty, folk singer Abhijit Acharya and singer Gopa Acharya – have joined hands to bring this innovative initiative. On the same day, in the evening, the event will take place at a venue near Golpark. The event arranged will see many from Bengal’s music fraternity coming together to share the success of the launch. The event is expected to host Indranil Sen, Sadhan Das Bairagya, Arindam Ganguly, Subasish Mukhopadhyay, Sushanta Das, Sumit Mukherjee, Vikram Chatterjee and

Rimjhim Mitra

, among others.
Organisers are excited and already counting days. Though baul-fakir gaan has turned into a fad in Kolkata in the past of couple of years with more and more youngsters joining the groups, such events are still rare in the city. Everyone associated with the programme is hoping this will be a new beginning.