Marking the landmark visit of Indian premier Dr. Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh, Indira Gandhi Culture Centre, High Commission of India, Dhaka, arranged a two-day (September 6-7) programme at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka.

Noted Indian singer Jayati Ghosh performed Rabindra Sangeet on September 6, while accomplished kathak artiste Sharmistha Mukherjee with fellow dancers -- Bidya Gaur, Rekha Adhikari, Amropali Bhandari, Uma Jha, Sadananda Biswas and Muzaffar Molla — presented a dance-drama, titled “Rainstorm and Autumn Leaves”. The kathak performance, based on works of Rabindranath Tagore and English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley — mingled Rabindra Sangeet and western classical music.

Jayati Ghosh, Ranjani Sanyal and Shraboni Goshwami lent their voices to rendition and recitation, while instrumentalists Aman Ali (tabla), Kishor Gangani (pakhawaj) and Amitabh Chatterjee (sitar) assisted the lively presentation.

The dance-drama staged by Sharmistha Mukherjee attempted to interpret imageries created in Tagore's poem "Borsho Shesh" and the Shelley composition “Ode to the WestWind". It is said that Tagore might have drawn inspiration

from Shelley's “Ode to the West Wind” when writing "Borsho Shesh”. In both poems the imageries of a powerful storm have been used metaphorically as an agent of destruction to pave way for new creation.

The dance pieces with the excerpts — "Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!" and “The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" — from “Ode to the West Wind" were mesmerising.

The Tagore numbers that superbly induced the dancers into a passionate presentation of “Rainstorm and Autumn Leaves” were: “Na Rashona", "Hridoye Mondrilo Damru Guru Guru”, “Hridoy Amar”, “Eki Gobhir Bani”, "Adhar Omborey", “Jete Jete Ekla Pothey”, “Pinaketey Lagey Tongkar", "Shudhu Tomar Bani Noy”, “Tumi Kon Bhangoner Pothey Ele Shupto Raat-e”, “Joi Houk” and more.

It was an attempt to bring together diverse elements: poems of two worlds, two completely different genres of music (namely Rabindra Sangeet and western classical music, containing excerpts from Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons”), and interpreting all these through the idiom of kathak, an Indian classical dance form. It was truly an experimental effort to go beyond the convention, and to explore uncharted territories.

Sharmistha Mukherjee is an accomplished kathak dancer with many years of performing experience. She received extensive training in kathak from three of the most prominent gurus of India — the late Pandit Durgalal, Vidushi Uma Sharma and Rajendra Gangani. Sharmistha's creativity took a new direction when she conceptualised and directed a six-episode tele-serial "Taal Mel" on dance. The artiste has recently codirected a film on contemporary dance in India, named "Beyond Tradition”.

Vocalist Jayati received her initial training in classical music from her mother Krishna Roy, and later under exponents of Hindustani Classical music, including Sankar Ghoshal. Goutam Adhikari initiated her in Rabindra Sangeet. At present she is taking lessons under Mahasaya Sudhir Chandra.

Gautam Bhattacharya designed the light for the presentation. Noted Bangladeshi Dancers Shibly Mohammad and Shamim Ara Nipa emceed the event. At the end of the performance, the wife of Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Kavita Miner presented bouquets to the featured artistes.