Bina Chaterjee mesmerizes audience on ‘Ghazal Gaon’

NAGPUR: City ghazal enthusiasts had a respite from the sweltering heat as the soothing voice of Bina Chaterjee serenaded them at a musical event ‘Ghazal Gaon’, organized by Sukun Manch at SAI Sabhagruha. Sukun Manch is a nascent organization which aims to promote traditional classical and semi-classical art forms in city.
Bina Chaterjee, All India Radio vocalist, was accompanied by pt.Prabhakar Rao Dkade on the violin, Shrikant Pise on harmonium, Devendra Yadav on tabla and Sandeep Kapoor on guitar. The function began with Chaterjee’s soulful rendition of the ghazal ‘tune to nigahe feri hai’ succeeded by Raji Hyderabadi’s ‘dil ko hair waqt’ and concluding by Faiaz Hashmi’s ‘aaj jane ki zid’.
Chaterjee hailing from Imphal, Manipur surprised the audience with her perfect Urdu. Chaterjee has been trained in the Jaipur Gharana style of singing by ustaad Ahmed Mohammed. Talking about her choice of ghazals for the evening, she said, “I have chosen the ghazals according to the taste of audience. I give tune to the ghazals I sing most of the times myself, but for this particular audience I have chosen popular ghazals which have been set to tune by popular artists.”
Narendra Satija head of Jagjeet Chitra Ghazal Manch introduced Chaterjee into the musical scenario of Nagpur. He talked about his first encounter with Chaterjee. “She was the music teacher of my child in school. Once I chanced upon hearing her sing and was sure that her voice belonged on the stage.”
HM Paunikar, the organizer of the event said, “Ghazal tradition is a vanishing art. Because of an all pervasive Bollywood culture the youngsters are ignorant of traditional art forms of the country”. Anand Kohli, a ghazal enthusiast, said, “This is poetry in its best form. The bollywood songs that one hears have absolutely no meaningful lyrics and lack profundity”
(Reporting by Umabhargavi Addepalli)