City to host whistling concert on popular music

Come December the city will see a concert with a  difference, when veteran journalist Tarun Goswami will perform in a singing whistling concert, celebrating 24 top singers composers of India. Surer Jharnadhara, the musical, will be staged at Uttam Mancha on December 3. 

The concert will feature 24 all time hits from the genre of popular music. From Mahendra Kapoor to Udit Narayan, Haimanti Shukla  to Shreya Ghosal, Goswami who initially trained in whistling from the legendary Salil Chowdhury will perform for two hours on that evening. 

Whistling is a rare form of art. In the remote past, whistling was used for communicating with birds and also by the Army. “Whistling an entire song while maintaining scale is a tough job. I use my teeth as reeds. I have to control my breath. It becomes tougher when accompanied by instruments like the tabla, mandolin, guitar and piano accordion”, said Goswami. 

Interestingly, whistling is taught as one of the subjects of music in Madrid University. Goswami, a fellow of the American School of Whistling. He is also a trained whistler who has been performing for almost 15 years now.  As for Goswami, greats like Salil Chowdhury, V Balsara are his inspiration. 

“Salilda once told me if a song can be rendered then the same can be articulated on whistling. Performing a song in a live concert and whistling the same songs are not the same”, he added.