As a gift to lovers of Rabindra sangeet, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta – a noted Randindra Sangeet exponent – will be presenting a solo programme at Rabindra Sadan, on May 2 (the eve of Kabipaksha).
The programme will start with the last song composed by Rabindra Nath and end with the poet's first song 'Nirab Rajani Dekho'. Also at the event, Bhavna Cassettes and Records will bring out an experimental CD titled 'Ogo Bideshini' by Dasgupta. Tagore had come in contact with Western music from his early life. That is why, in many of his compositions, the influence of Western music is evident.
Therefore, the CD will have the singer's compilation of original Western songs and the songs composed by Tagore.
The compilation will also have some English, Scottish and Irish original songs, from which Tagore has taken the tunes and later composed his songs. Some of these songs are 'Drink to me', 'Auld lang sune', 'Nancy lee', 'British Grenadiers', 'In good King Charles', to name a few. The Bengal compositions include 'Kotobaro bhebechinu', 'Purano sei diner kotha', 'Kali kali bolore aj', 'O dekhbi re bhai', 'Sokoli Phuralo', etc.
Swagatalakshmi got her initial training from her father Pabitra Dasgupta, who used to sing various types of songs when she was a kid. And, even her mother Subrata was a student of great Rabindrasangeet exponent Debabrata Biswas. After her mother's demise, Swagatalakshmi translated 53 of Tagore songs which were later published in a book titled 'Galaxy'. The singer also had the honour to sing in Parliament in 1995 and took part in functions all over the globe.
Dasgupta was the playback singer in Rituporno Ghosh's Chokher Bali. She got an award for singing 'Eki labonye purno pran' in the playback in a film directed by Gautam Ghosh.
During her career, she came in contact with stalwarts like Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Supriyo Thakur, Suchitra Mitra, William Radice, Amartya Sen, among others.
Dasgupta has given music to 75 songs from 'Gitabitan' which have not been given the musical form.