Darjeeling: The stage is all set for the commemoration of the 90th birth anniversary of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama along with the launch of “Year of Compassion,” on July 6 at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. The commemoration will be attended by dignitaries from all over the world, including Hollywood icon Richard Gere. Cultural troupes invited from all across the globe will also perform on that day.
Bengal too has a connection with the day’s commemorations in Dharamsala.
Music director and composer Som Dasgupta has composed the track for a special Hindi song ‘Bishwamanbhaban’ to be presented on that day. Bidisha Sen will be performing the song along with playback singer Mohit Chauhan, live, accompanied by students from Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in front of the Dalai Lama. The performance will be broadcast internationally. Both Som and Bidisha have the Kolkata connection having started their musical careers from the City of Joy. At present, both are based in Mumbai.
“TIPA had approached me to compose the special Hindi song. I feel lucky and blessed that I was chosen for this. At times it feels like a dream. Very few people in the world get such an opportunity. The song is a tribute, straight from the heart. It has touches of Indian classical music as well as spiritual notes,” stated 54-year-old Som Dasgupta while talking to Millennium Post. After the song got a go-ahead, Som was invited to Dharamshala to help their students to learn and perform the song. “I visited and trained the students along with recording the song for the music video,” added Som.
Echoing similar sentiments Bidisha stated: “After TIPA selected renowned playback singer Mohit Chauhan for the live performance, they were looking for a female singer too. I had done the scratch track (temporary audio recording for the production process) along with Som. Hearing the scratch, TIPA enquired about me and wanted me to be the female voice for the song. This is nothing short of divine calling,” stated Bidisha. The duo have set off for Dharamshala where she will be performing in front of His Holiness on July 6.
“My musical journey started from Kolkata where I was associated with a number of bands, including Hip Pocket, Orient Express, Sahar and others. Parallely I have been composing music since 2002 for the advertising sector in Bengal and Bangladesh. In 2006, I started my journey scoring music for films with the Bengali film Kranti. In 2010, I shifted to Mumbai,” added Som. Since then there has been no looking back. He has scored music for TV commercials, corporate music and theme songs, Bollywood, Tollywood films and TV shows. He even scored music for Australia Tourism and worked with Hollywood Director Bill Benette.
“In Mumbai, I met my childhood friend and classmate Bidisha who had also shifted from Kolkata following her marriage in 2000. As both of us had a deep interest in music we started a band called ‘The Vaidyas’.
We have performed widely in Mumbai and Kolkata,” stated Som. Bidisha had been trained in music by Pundit VG Jog, Ustad Dilshad Khan and Begum Parveen Sultana.