A tribute to Rabindrasangeet exponent Goutam Mitra

Rabindrasangeet exponent Goutam Mitra is a household name in Bengal.

Born in a musical family, Goutam's father Siddeshar Mitra was a student of Rabindranath Tagore. Goutam got his initial training in music from his father.

Later he was trained by Sushil Basu, a student of Ustad bade Golam Ali Khan, Pandit Sachindas Matilal among others. He received training in Rabindrasangeet by exponents like Santosh Sengupta, Suchitra Mitra, Sailajaranjan Mazumdar, Chinmoy Chattopadhyay, Debabrata Biswas. He learnt popular Bengali songs from Shyamal Mitra.

Mitra has been singing in All India Radio from 1968. He has sung songs in several Bengali feature films Sargam, lalpahari, Rabibar, Mahamilan among others, besides several dance dramas composed by Tagore. He was recently awarded Sangeet Samman by the state government.

Mitra resigned from his job in a Central Government undertaking in a bid to concentrate more on Tagore songs. He is an ideal teacher and his unique rendition has made him very special in the arena of Rabindrasangeet.

To celebrate his musical career spanning five decades, Bhabna has organised a programme at Rabindra Sadan on July 15, 6.30pm.

Eminent Rabindrasangeet exponents including Agniva Bandyopadhyay, Arindam Ganguly, Sraboni Sen, Sreya Guthakurata, Kheyali Ghosh Dastidar, Satinath Mukhopadhyay will pay their tribute to Mitra through Tagore songs, poems and dance drama. A CD Tahare Bola Jae containing Tagore songs will be released by Bhavna Cassettes and Records at the function.