Its a vibrant cosmopolitan scene here in London. The cultural picture is always colourful with a splash of paint from every community on the canvas. Its brought to life with the magic of varied forms of music, dance, songs and colour.
The evening of Sunday the 29th of January witnessed a brilliant performance by Baithak UK at the Victoria and Albert museum, celebrating Tagore’s 150th birth Anniversary. This presentation which has been supported and organised by the V&A and Nehru Centre, is a part of the year long celebrations taking place in various museums, art galleries and performance venues for the occasion.
For those who don’t know him, Rabindra Nath Tagore was an Indian- Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music. Author of Gitanjali, a collection of poems which became very famous in the west and was widely translated, he was the first non European to be awarded the Nobel prize in Literature in 1913.
The presentation started with a talk by Sangeeta Datta, Director of Baithak UK. and a renowned film maker, writer and a vocalist of Tagore songs herself. Then it gradually moved on to soul stirring songs by Sangeeta Datta and vocalist Shahana Bajpayee. The medium was bengali but the meaning of the songs was being conveyed to the audience in short simple verses in between. To add to the magic there were also dances performed to some of the songs by very graceful dancers namely Satarupa Chatterjee and Protima Chatterjee. The highlight of the evening being the debut performance by little Aishani Chatterjee who is just five years old but was equally joyous on stage performing to two of Tagore’s most beautiful songs. Her gorgeous smile and graceful movements showed that the Bengali community in the UK has successfully passed the torch on to the next generation to carry Tagore’s legacy forward. The journey through the presentation was purely mesmeric and dreamlike.
We look forward to more of such beautiful stage presentations where both young and old participate to give the audience the best of any existing culture.
Protima Chatterjee
