Adda over music, poetry and memories of Poila Boishakh celebration

Academy Theatre and Riddhi — A Step for Music celebrated Bengali New Year through a cultural extravaganza, Bhalobasi Banglake recently at Sisir Mancha. It featured songs, poetry dealing performers from Kolkata and Bangladesh. Songs by

Riddhi Bandyopadhyay

, Devajit Bandyopadhyay and Swapnil Shojib, poetry by veteran poet Subodh Sarkar and Shimul Mustapha, a renowned elocutionist from

Bangladesh

, was the central attraction of the evening. It was more of an informal adda cum musical journey through recalling early days how the Bengali New Year used to be celebrated, rituals revolving around the auspicious occasion, Bengali calendar, how we celebrate it at present in both Kolkata and Bangladesh. Subodh Sarkar and Shimul recalled their childhood memories of

Poila Boishakh

by reading poems by Jasimuddin, while Riddhi and others lent their voices to songs of Lalan Fakir, Girish Ghosh , Atul Prasad Sen and so on. The event had been conceptualised by Riddhi Bandyopadhyay herself.