Friends Music Festival February 28, 2008

If lovers of classical music wait all year for the Dover Lane Music Conference, those with more diverse musical taste now have their own all-night festival to look forward to.

The 91.9 FM Friends Music Festival, in association with The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika, brings together Tagore’s tunes, ragas and Bangla pop and rock at Nazrul Mancha from February 29 to March 2.

“The festival marks the first anniversary of our radio station. We focus on a Bengali audience and promote all kinds of music that are popular in Bengal,” said Jaideep Banerjee, the programming head of Friends FM.

The line-up includes Rabindrasangeet, Nazrulgeeti, folk, Adhunik, Hindustani classical, Bangla rock and even fusion.

The performances on February 29 and March 2 are from 5pm to 10pm. The second day’s show starts at 5pm and continues through the night.

The festival will take Calcuttans on a trip down memory lane, with music from the bygone era.

The contemporary sound will also be represented through performances by a variety of city artistes, encompassing different genres.

The first evening will see Rabindrasangeet and folk performances by Susmita Goswami, Agnibha Bandopadhyay, Lopamudra Mitra, Kartick Das Baul and Dohar.

“It is very important to have festivals of this sort, as they make music accessible to the common man. I am very excited to perform on such a big platform with so many artistes,” said Mitra, who will sing both Rabindrasangeet and Bangla Adhunik songs at the festival.

Nachiketa, Rupankar, Subhamita, Raghab Chattopadhyay and Srikanto Acharya, followed by Ustad Rashid Khan, Kaushiki Desikan Chakrabarty, Tejendra Narayan Majumdar and Anindo Chatterjee on the tabla will take the stage on the second day.

“I like performing at festivals like this, where those who like listening to light music come together with serious classical music lovers. It is for us to ensure that the people enjoy as well as understand music,” said Khan.

The festival will also provide an opportunity for new talents, with bands like Eldorado and Phoenix getting the chance to perform with established ones like Fossils, Chandrabindoo and Bickram Ghosh’s Rhythmscape.

“Music festivals bring together musicians of different genres, providing new performers a chance to be recognised along with established names,” said Chandrabindoo vocalist Anindya Chattopadhyay.

To add some masala to the music will be stalls selling food. Musical instruments and CDs will also be sold from the stalls.

Tickets for the fest are available at MusicWorld (Park Street and Ultadanga), Melody (Rashbehari Avenue), M. Biswas and Symphony at Esplanade, Grub Club (Gol Park), Haralalka (Shyambazar), Hindustan Sweets (Jadavpur 8B bus stand) and the Friends 91.9 FM office at 44 Park Street.

from The Telegraph online