Music dipped in nostalgia

Nasima Shahin and Suman Majumdar rendering a duet

Performers of the cultural group Panchaswar presented the excellent musical evening organised jointly by the group and Chalachchitram film society.

The organisers held a similar soiree ten years ago in 1994 with the title Phirey Cholo Apon Ghorey. This time the organisers have titled the programme Phirey Cholo Apon Ghorey: Dosh Bachhar Porey, meaning 'ten years later', as it replicates the previous event. The musical programme was excellently researched with information regarding the songs presented. Besides which films the songs are taken from and the releasing years of the films, Panchswar also presented information about the lyricists, music directors and the original singers of each song. However, the organisers could not perhaps be sure about a song or two. A neatly printed brochure was worth collecting.

The rendition started with the titular song Phirey cholo apon ghorey preformed by Suman Chowdhury. The song was originally sung by Krishna Chandra Dey. In succession came songs like Jodi apnar money madhuri from Shesh Uttor (1942), Kotha noy aji ratey from Shat Nombor Bari (1946), Tomarey legechhe eto je bhalo from Rajdhanir Bukey (1960), Amakey poratey jodi and Eki shonar aloy from Moner Moto Bou (1969), Bimurto ei ratri amar from Shimana Periye (1977) and Amar mon boley tumi ashbey from Anarkoli (1980).

A few hit numbers sung by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Manna Dey like Amar swapney dekha rajkonna, Aj dujonar duti poth, Ami jamini tumi shoshi hey and Ami je jolsha ghorey also added to the nostalgic experience of the audience.

After its establishment in 1982, Chalachchitram formed its musical wing Panchaswar in 2003 with the view to carry on the golden legacy of Bangla music. And in this enterprise Panchaswar has regularly held musical programmes featuring selected songs from Bangla films, subject orientated songs and 'Songs of the Golden Era'.

The performing artistes of Panchaswar were Suman Chowdhury, Sharmin Shathi Islam, Mamun Zahid Khan, Suman Majundar, Nasima Shahin, Jannat-e-Ferdousi, Bulbul Islam, Farhana Akhtar and Mohua Rahman.