Abar Bochhor Tirish Pore
Abar Bochhor Tirish Pore (Once again after thirty years), a tribute concert featuring songs of Moheener Ghoraguli with Philarmonic Orchestra, was held at Nicco Park, Kolkata on January 5, 2008. It was organized in memory of Dhurjati Chattopadhyay, Deepak Majumdar and Gautam Chattopadhyay. The name is a reference to the album Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore. Two of the original ghoras - Ranjon Ghoshal, curated the show and took people down memory lane sharing various anecdotes, while Abraham Mazumder was the symphony conductor. They were joined on stage by modern Bangla Rock artists like Pota, Rupam Islam and Anindya Bose along with singers from the Moheen stable like Dibyo Mukhopadhyay and Ritika Sahni. Stalwarts of alternative Bengali music Tanmoy Bose, Anjan Dutt and members of Chandrabindoo (band) too chipped in with their rendition of classic Moheen numbers. They were ably supported by the chamber orchestra of Abraham's music school - L'Atelier de Musique de Calcutta. Celebrated painter, a friend and a pillar of support for Moheener Ghoraguli, Hiran Mitra, was the creative director of the show, aided in detailing by Sangeeta Ghoshal and Sharmishtha Chatterjee.
A memorable evening
People attended the concert venue from faraway districts of Bengal. The audience had people from different walks of life, who were touched by Moheen's music, cutting across ages. Notable personalities Sunil Gangopadhyay & Swati Gandopadhyay, Kalyan Roy & Aparna Sen also attended.
The performance lasted five hours. The projection screens put gave the audience the option see the close-ups. Nine cameras and a Jimmy Jib (camera) was set up for live television coverage.
The concert venue was choc-a-bloc and according to local vernacular media reports was one of the well attended Bengali rock concerts. The people present at the venue also had the opportunity to collect memorabilia of their favourite band.
Track listing
The concert was broken down into sections that delved into various phases of the music of Moheener Ghoraguli.
- Making of the Band (1975-76)
Songs of Moheener Ghoraguli of pre-band days..sung by the Old Horses.
- The Vinyl Days (1976-79)
This era was also known as the Cobblestone Years or Krishnochudaar Dinguli. Songs from the three published vinyl records, featuring the much loved cult classics as Shomgbihno Pakhikul and Haay Bhalobashi.
- Remembering Baul Jazz (International Jazz Festival 1980)
An attempt to recreate some sounds from the Baul Jazz, as performed by Moheener Ghoraguli in International Jazz Fest,1980. This section featured Taal-Tantra, led by Tanmoy Bose, accompanied by guest artists from India and abroad.
- The 90's Collection
Songs from the four later albums, that featured some of the popular and enduring numbers, including signature number Prithibi, Telephone and Akashe Chhawdano.
- Unpublished Moheener Ghoraguli
A few songs, composed and performed by the band, that were never recorded, including Hoy jodi howk.
The featured singers
- Anindya Bose
- Pota
- Rupam
- Sayak
- Sayantan
- Bhaskar
- Ritika Sahni
- Antara
- Dibyo Mukhopadhyay
- Madhusree
- Anjan Dutt
- Chandrabindoo
- Kartik Das Baul (Taal-Tantra)
- Ambarish Das (Taal-Tantra)
The performers
The event was testimony to one of the greatest congregation of musicians for a Bengali concert. There were around 117 musicians from all over the world paying tribute to the music of Moheener Ghoraguli. The evening included music from Tanmoy Bose and his Taal-Tantra featuring Ratul Shankar.
- Ranjon Ghoshal - vocals, compere
- Philarmonic Orchestra
- Abraham Mazumdar - composer, arranger, concert conductor
- Madhusree Mazumdar - piano, concert director
- Anubrata Ghatak - assistant conductor
- Madras Players - brass band
- Bengali band Shohor - elcectric band
- Kalpak Seal, Shilpi Panja, Binit Ranjan Maitra, Bhaskar Dutta - violin
- Soumak Bardhan, Tarun Mondol, PS Ramachandran - cello
- Manabendra Das, Bidyut Kayal, Sayantan Neogi, Buddhadev Ghoshal - double bass
- Raja Mukherjee, Pijush - bass guitar
- Biplab Singh - classical guitar
- Jishu Sengupta, Guddu, Bubun - drums
- Avi - keyboard
- Babua Bose - percussion
- Brass Section
- Thomas Xavier, A Irudayaraj Babu, D Bernard - trumpets
- Maxwell - trombone
- Clio Karabelias - harp
- Narayanswamy V - french horn
- Tarini Srinivas - euphonium
- Vipul Patel, Prashant Vijay - tubas
- Baul Jazz Segment
- Tanmoy Bose - director
- Sourav Roy, Saptarshi - piano
- Ratul Shankar - latin percussion
- Joy Bhattacharya - drums
- Mainak Nag Chaudhury - bass guitar
- Aditya Benia - lead guitar
- Guest Artistes
- Tilman Denhardt - saxophone, contra bass, steel flute
- S Radhakrishna - double violin
- Maatihas - lead guitar
- Ritoban Chatterjee, Abhimanyu Ghoshal - lead guitar