In pandemic times: Subdued offerings, virtual shows held to mark Tagore's 79th death anniversary

Kolkata: Rabindra Tirtha observed the 79th death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore with a virtual musical show on Friday.

Noted Rabindra Sangeet exponents including Srikanta Acharya, Iman Chakraborty, Aditi Gupta, Debashis Roy Chowdhury took part in a recording session at Rabindra Tirtha some days ago. Elocutionists, including Sovan Shundar Basu, Pranati Thakur, Sumantra Sengupta and Soumitra Mitra recited Tagore's poems. To mark the occasion, Debashis Sen, chairman of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) planted a sapling as part of the plantation ceremony that was held in Santiniketan on Friday.

The show lasted for about two-and-a-half-hours. It was uploaded on social media and also on Rabindra Tirtha Facebook page.

Tagore went to the West for the first time when he was 18 and returned to Jorasanko after a year. During the next few months he became the central figure in conducting in-house music, which was for a very long time under the control of his elder brother Jyotirindranath.

The first episode of the documentary was titled Abhigya Debi — a spiritual melody made on the life of a young member of the Tagore family who was a brilliant singer but died prematurely. The documentary is directed by Anindita Chakraborty and produced by Pitam Sengupta, a scholar on Rabindranath under the banner 'Anyo Monisko'.