The Rabindra Bhawan auditorium in Guwahati vibrantly came alive on October 11 as music lovers thronged in from all directions. The occasion was a beautiful and enthralling programme billed Shilpir Prithivit Ek Nostalgia, and in other words ‘Musical moment with the legends’, organised by the nascent Artiste Forum, Assam. People came with high hopes of listening to the tunes they had heard, liked and hummed in the years gone by, and they were not let down as singers, one after the other, regaled the jampacked auditorium to the hilt.

The Artiste Forum, Assam has been formed with a noble aim of coming to the aid of needy artistes, at the time of emergency. For that, a trust would be formed before forming a corpus fund for the grand objectives.

The programme got under way following the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by top ONGC official PK Hazarika. Actor Indra Bania and actress Malaya Goswami were also felicitated on the occasion. It’s heartening that oil major ONGC and the gas company GAIL have come forward to support such a noble cause. Over 20 artistes, both old and a few new ones, captivated the audience with their varied songs, with deft anchoring by Aboni Bora and Akashitora.

The melodic journey began with Apurba Bezbarua rendering Nibicharo aji karo... followed by Namita (Bhattacharya) Goswami giving a soothing effect with the song Sou meghar cha... in her mellifluous voice. Then came on the stage lyricist-composer Prasanta Bordoloi and Beauty Sarma Barua to sing Padma chaku nila bhora... and Iman apon... respectively.

The medley of songs continued with varied performances by Dr Anima Choudhury (Anubhav mor pritir smriti), Samar Hazarika (Pahari kanya o’ seujia), Queen Das (Tumi ahiba moromore jonakate), Kula Barua (Mon dekhon hobo khoje), JP Das (Madhu jon jwalise), Malabika Bora (Sonali dhanani), Bijoylakshmi (Putalare koina dora), Shyamal Saikia (Saponate tumi), Dr Rijuana Sultana Ahmed (Tomar sate chinaki holo), Shanta Uzir (Agali kalpat), Dwipen Barua (Eikhoni gaon), Krishna Lahkar Bordoloi (Orey rati andhakarat), Sangeeta Kakoti (Jonakare ei gadhuli), Jiten Deka (Ipare sipare), Nilima Khatun (Nadi matho boi), Dilip Das (Eikhon sonowali), Pulak Banerjee (Sandhya jetiya namey), Charu Gohain (Jilmil jon jwale kapalat). Besides, child artiste Asthajita Nanda Bordoloi and the comedy troupe ‘Khisiri’ comprising Rajib Kro, Bijit Dev Choudhury and Kamal Singh also performed, to the delight of all.

Earlier, a souvenir titled Nostalgia was released by additional DGP of Assam Police, Gunattam Bhuyan, who hoped that this venture of the Artiste Forum, Assam would be able to live up to the expectations of all, especially the needy, and expressed confidence in its success.

Simanta Bhagawati