To celebrate National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's 106th birth anniversary, renowned cultural institution, Chayyanaut arranged a soiree comprising his songs and poetry on June 4 at the Experimental Theatre Stage, Shilpakala Academy.

The season of rain and rain itself capture a kaleidoscopic melange of emotions. Rain sometimes evokes nostalgia, reminds one of his/her paramour in some far off land, augments some hidden sorrow and even manifests the phenomenon of 'done with the old, get with the new'. Rain can be the disclosure of unconstrained joy when lovers meet after a prolonged and fervent wait. Very few Bangalee poets could capture the entire essence of rain with flawless precision as Nazrul and that became apparent at the programme.

Eminent artistes Shaheen Samad, Khairul Anam Shakil and dancer Sharmila Bandyopadhyay who teach at Chayyanaut and their students participated at the event. Bhashshor Bandyopadhyay and Dalia Ahmed recited poems in between the songs, which created the mood for each song based on diverse human emotions related to rain.

Sharmila and her students did dance presentations with several of the songs, which obviously accentuated the message of the songs. For the dance presentations, Sharmila adopted different styles, such as Bharatnatyam, Chatka, Odissi and Manipuri, which suited the moods of different numbers.

Shaheen Samad validated her vocal finesse yet again with her rendition of a 'Monsoon Raga' based song Borosha oi elo borosha. With the twists and turns of her voice and her effortless movement from one octave to another, she made some music aficionados go spontaneously "bah! bah!"

A chorus song Rim rimjhim namilo deya followed by Meghmedur borosha-e kotha tumi, a 'Raga Jay Jayanti' based number were performed. A graceful dancer clad in kathak costume sort of stole the show with the rendition of Kajari gahiya esho gopo-lolona. An artiste performing Torun oshanto ke birohi could not quite capture the rebellious, restless essence of the song, with her very slow, timid rendition.

Ambar-e megh mrindong bajey accompanied with an Odissi dance presentation by Sharmila was intriguing. Khairul Anam Shakil's rendition of Shonar hindol-e kishor kishori doley received ovation from the audience. His distinct style of singing is laudable.

The event ended with a chorus rendition of Desh gauro bijoy debraj, consorted with a Manipuri group dance presentation, which seemed to go haywire. The dancers seemed to lack proper coordination in the beginning and the singers were hardly audible, either due to faulty sound management or just lack of skills.

Shaheen Samad, Khairul Anam Shakeel, Kalpana Anam and Sharmila Bandyopadhyay charmed the audience. However, the students who performed the chorus and solo numbers were not up to the mark. Dalia Ahmed's pronunciation and style of reciting some lines in Hindustani sounded artificial.

The event, with the theme of rain, left the audience craving for some long overdue showers in the blistering summer evening.