London Sharad Utsav (LSU) celebrated 157th birthday of Rabindra Nath Tagore at Nehru Centre, Mayfair London on 11th of May 2018 with much pomp and gaiety.
Every year we try to explore one of Tagore’s popular subjects from his vast repertoire of work. Last year LSU's theme for Tagore's birthday celebration was ‘Tagore the traveler’ and this year it was ‘Colours of the seasons’. Songs included six seasons of Bengal: Grishma (Summer), Barsha (Monsoon), Sharat (Early Autumn), Hemonto (Late Autumn), Sheet (Winter) and Basonto (Spring).
Amit Guha, Anindito Paul, Saikat Roychowdhury, Suranjan Som, Nripen Mondal, Rahul Banerji, Sharmistha Guha, Tanusree Guha and Ranjana Roychowdhury sang some of Tagore's famous songs whereas Bidisha Datta, Sandhya Sen, Saheli Das Mondal, Esha Chakravarty, Ananya Chakraborty Paul danced to some of Tagore's particularly famous and melodious creations. Arunava Bardhan assisted with percussion and Suranjan Som played the key-board . The whole event was conducted with compère and explanation by Prasenjit Bhattacharjee and Sudeshna Som.
Tagore began painting relatively late in his career when he was in his sixties. Nevertheless he produced thousands of works and was the first Indian artist to exhibit his works across Europe, Russia and the United States in 1930. His painting style was very individual, characterized by simple bold forms and a rhythmic quality, and later served to inspire many modern Indian artists. To honour Tagore’s visual art, LSU’s Mahua Bej produced a piece of abstract art portraying the theme: ‘colours of the season’.
The auditorium was fully packed and the mesmerising performances earned hearty appreciation and praise. LSU is going to celebrate their 10 years of Durga Puja, they are also arranging IFA Shield UK first time ever to honour Indian football in association with Indian Fans Association and Adda, Slough. LSU Picnic, Cricket tournament and Harrow Music Festival are also on cards in this year.
