Jagjit Singh the maestro

Narayan Sinha's work

Saturday, 10^th September, 2011: Today evening I went to the Science City to watch the live concert of Jagjit Singh.

It was a private affair organized by ACC to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of ACC. The programme - Melody Forever – was a captivating musical evening with Padmabhushan Shri Jagjit Singh to commemorate his 70^th birthday celebrations.

The programme started half-an-hour late. Whether it was Jagjit Singh’s name that drew crowds or more cards distributed by the organisers, I don’t know. But I have never seen such an over-crowded Science City auditorium.

Many of those who turned up did not get a seat and there was a commotion giving the organizers a tough time.  
The police also had to intervene while the organizers were kept busy making arrangements for extra chairs, benches, plastic stools as late as 9:30 PM.  

However, as far as the show is concerned and having watched Jagjit Singh live in more than 40 shows, I think this was one of the best shows.  

For two hours in such an over-crowded hall, where the guests even had to sit on the corner of the stage, there was pin drop silence. No doubt, even on his 70^th Birthday, Padmabushan Jagjit Singh is still one of the best ghazal maestros the country has.

Yesterday evening I also went to the Harrington Street Arts Centre to attend Debi – an exhibition organized by Narayan Sinha.  Ina Puri, who invited me to this exhibition, was also filled in as the presenter at the exhibition. 

I met many artists including Ganesh Haloi and Ramananda Bandhopadhya at the Exhibition (picture).

Narayan Sinha’s work is very unique.  It is nice to see the use of old iron locks, keys and iron handles in such a beautiful way.

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