| Paintings on Satriya culture On the occasion of the  golden jubilee of the Indian Oil Corporation, a five-day exhibition of paintings and photographs was held from August 10 to 14 at the State Art Gallery. The exhibition was declared open by eminent painter Nani Borpujari, in the presence of a distinguished gathering including A Pandian, General Manager, North East Integrated State Office. The exhibition of photography covered a wide range of impressive photographs by Dipakananda Bharali. It was Bharali’s fifth one-man exhibition.The paintings by Rajashree Sarma drew the attention of the viewers, as probably it was the first time an artist had ventured to create paintings based on Satriya culture, in a series. It was titled Satriya Chora. Incidentally, Rajashree Sarma, a diploma holder in painting from New Delhi, has been keenly studying Satriya culture as a prospective subject for paintings in the Auniati Satra and was also inspired by Satradhikar Pitambar Deva Goswami. Interestingly, this was her sixth solo exhibition. Being the wife of AC Sarma, Deputy General Manager (CS), IOC, she had the occasion to travel to many places. Her earlier solo exhibitions included one at Mauritius and another in New Delhi, which were well received by viewers. She held an exhibition earlier at Earth Song Art Gallery of Guwahati, with paintings based on some of the songs of Dr Bhupen Hazarika. An ardent lover of Dr Hazarika’s songs, she painted 35 songs on canvas. The paintings were highly appreciated by the public. The attempt was appreciated by celebrated painter Sobha Brahma and by Dr Hazarika himself. Her efforts and conception are really appreciable, and she plans to work towards popularising traditional paintings of Assam globally. |
| Ashim Hazarika’s chorus on CD An album of chorus songs, tuned by late Ashim Hazarika, the popular singer-composer, titled Koney Koley Tumi Naai was released on August 16 by Amiya Mohan Das, prominent singer of yesteryears, at a function held at Magor Auditorium of Vivekananda Kendra on the occasion of the 52nd birthday of the singer. The album has been presented by musician Saurabh Kumar Das, Amiya Hazarika and Bimala Sirneth Hazarika, wife of the late singer. The album carries nine numbers with meaningful lyrics and messages, written by Keshav Mahanta, Tafazzul Ali, Satish Das, Tarun Sarma, Gita Hatikakati, Keshav Dutta and Anil Kalita. The recording was done at Rising Studio, under the supervision of JP Das. A good number of popular and upcoming singers have participated in the chorus. Musical arrangements have been competently done by Rupam Talukdar, Utpal Bora and Amarjyoti Deka. The release function was graced by the presence of celebrated singer Sudakshina Sarma. Suhag Electronics is the distributor for the album, which also carries a free booklet of the songs. The organisers have announced the formation of the Ashim Hazarika Memorial Trust. |
| Tribute to Bhabendranath Saikia The sixth death  anniversary of legendary writer-film maker Bhabendranath Saikia was held on August 13 at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, under the auspices of Aarohan. Inaugurating the function by lighting the ceremonial lamp before the portrait of Saikia, Jogendranath Bhuyan opined that Bhabendranath Saikia and Kalakshetra were like two sides of the same coin. The chief guest Dhirendranath Chakravarty dwelt at length on Saikia’s contribution to literature, films and mobile theatre, adding that he had created a new era by editing a magazine like Prantik. The meeting was addressed among others by noted film journalist Chandan Sarma, Gautam Sarma and Priti Saikia, wife of late Saikia. A variety show of songs and dances was also presented by the child artistes of Aarohan. |
Apurba Kumar Das