Audio CD of poetry readings

This year BidyaProkash, aside from their usual variety of books, released an audio CD of recitation based on the book “Nokkhottrer Shobtuku Neel Tokame Debo” by Pial Khondokar and Mushumi Rahman at the 2015 Ekushey Book Fair. The book was published for the 2013 Book Fair by BidyaProkash themselves.

The CD features renowned elocutionist Rupa Chakraborty and Golam Sarwar. Like most other duet albums, it deals with love and romance but with a more sombre and heavier approach than contemporary albums. 

What is rather unique about this particular CD however, is the way the poems are presented. The album contains 21 poems, split up into 21 tracks. However, unlike a traditional album (or indeed a book of poetry), the 21 tracks flow as one single construct. This follows the interesting structure in the book as well, where the poems are not names, but simply numbered, as if scenes from a play.

The entire album flows as one coherent story, dealing with various phases of love and despair. The poets and the performers manage to vividly visualise the sceneries and hold up emotions. It contains a plethora of western references within the conversations – something that I am sure the younger generations can relate to.

Coming on to the topic of the performers – Golam Sarwar brings a calm and soothing feel to his character. The composed poems with which he delivers the lines sets the listener at ease, and makes for an interesting counterpart to Rupa Chakrabory's powerful ever-changing delivery. She succeeds in bringing out every emotion with her immaculate voice - be it brevity, gravity, serenity or laughter – helping further the suspension of disbelieve and immersing the listeners into the narrative.

However, the CD is not without its faults. Technical glitches mar what might have been an otherwise excellent album. Aside from the lack of importable album data for digital imports, the CD seems to have audio glitches (which I hope is simply localized to my own copy!) and there seem to be periods of unintended white noise.

However, I am confident that despite these issues, youths and elders alike will receive this album positively.