'Songs of Protest' by Sumangala Damodaran

The CD was released on 10 November, at the National School of Drama. I was there, for the performance, for the CD and for the photos. I've always wanted to shoot performers, especially musicians. One day, I will actually shoot good ones (the photos, not the performers!) :D.

To tell the truth, I expected more from the collection. The songs were beautiful, but they hardly embodied 'protest' music to my newly-into-protest-music ears. The renditions lacked the energy and mass participation I've come to expect from such songs, purely based on my diet of Salil Chowdhury, Debabrata Biswas and Hemanga Biswas. I am very glad to own a copy of the CD though, because one can't have enough protest music.

I've been told by my uncle that a lot of Bengali IPTA songs have been put online-somewhere. He has given me the phone number of someone who can tell me more, and I'm going to call him tomorrow.

The NSD complex is beautiful-even in the dark. I went to the event straight from work, lugging my bags, trying not to be directionally challenged. I felt like a tourist, getting (happily) distracted by installed exhibits and practicing students. I was trying to find Sanmukhi Auditorium. So was another gentleman carrying a guitar. I followed him, and then he followed me, until the auditorium was located. Only later did I realise that not only was he one of the musicians for the evening, but he was Deepak Castelino.