Surangan Music School Lives up to its Reputation Again

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Photos: Pradip Ghosh

By Sanchali Basu

HOUSTON: The aim of Surangan Music School is to nourish, nurture and carry forward the rich Bengali heritage. The evening of December 4 proved that fact to a tee, when the school held their annual student appreciation day at the HDBS Sur Auditorium. The school in its 6th year under the dedicated efforts of founder director Rupa Ghosh has grown in size, maturity and professionalism. The school trains students in the classical, semi classical, Rabindra and Nazrul songs. It also takes pride in conducting periodic workshops with eminent artists from Bangladesh, India and the US and participates in several live stage shows, some in collaboration with other performing cultural organizations of the diverse, vibrant city of Houston.

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December 16, also being the Victory Day of Bangladesh was commemorated in the program and participants were all dressed in shades of red and green representing the Bangladeshi national flag. The evening started with a brief introduction by emcee Sanchali Basu and Rupa opened with her melodious rendition of Rabindra Sangeet “Jagate ananda jogge” and captivated the audience’s attention.

3 group songs were sung by her entire group of students and they included Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Sangeet and a Bangladeshi patriotic song. Each individual student namely Sarat, Tansin, Sadaf, Shyon, Naiza, Mehenaz, Joti Priya, Prithika, Sharoni, Prova Joti, Pritha, Seeryn, Mohd Ali, Aryan, Sedra, Sreya, Puja, Dona, Mukta and Fareeha then took the stage and sang beautifully with very little help from the Guru. They ranged in age from 4 to anywhere over 30. Each one of them had the lyrics memorized and most of them played the harmonium while they were singing. As if this was not commendable enough, there was hardly any American accent in their Bengali pronunciation. Even the non Bengali mother-daughter duos of Vanini-Sheena and Dipika-Sonia sang, “Kothao aamar” with perfect Bengali diction. A dance performance by Shawon to “Mor bhabona re” brought some variety to the evening’s show.

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As is the tradition, Raja Banga, director of the Prana School of Music, an eminent music school of Katy along with a few of his disciples joined in the evening’s celebrations. His students also hailed from different age groups and delighted the audience with various percussion instruments including tabla, djembe, Cajon box drum, drums and keyboard.

Rupa in her inimitable style delighted the audience with a Rabindra Sangeet and 2 Nazrul songs. The highlight of the evening was the mesmerizing renditions of Rabindra Sangeet by guest artists Kamalpriya Roy and Amit De with the impeccable accompaniment of Biplab Samaddar on the violin, Alok Roy on the mandira and Raja Banga on the tabla. Both have been trained in the traditional Rabindra Sangeet style from Santiniketan and the former is a faculty member at Kala Bhavan, HDBS. Shudhu tomar Bani sung by Kamalpriya deserves special mention. The audience wanted to hear more but the request could not be kept since the organizers were saving the best for the last. Biplab Samadder and Raja Banga drew much appreciation from the crowd with their jugalbandi on the Raga Chhhaya Nat.

A vote of thanks was offered by Rupa and all guest artists were presented with uttoriyo and flowers. Appreciation certificates were handed out to students. Arrangement for snacks was made for all. Please visit www.surangan.org for further information.