Sanskriti presents cultural extravaganza during Durg Puja.
4th October, Saturday:
MC – Saswati (Gopa) Motayed
3:30 p.m. Program starts with Community kids program (Bengali rhymes with actions & dances) Direction : Swati Chowdhury and Shukla Biswas.
3:50 p.m. Bengali & Hindi songs by Sanchari Ghosh
4:10 p.m. Modern dances with Bengali & Hindi songs by Roshni Ghosh
4:30 p.m. Mayur Dance Academy (Sukanya Mukherjee) production – “Utsaber Chhando”
5:15 p.m. Speech by President Rama Saha
Felicitation of Nihar Ray & Debabrata Das --- presented by Arun Guha (1st Secretary of Sanskriti)
5:30 p.m. Break with Samosa,Zhalmuri& Tea(Cafeteria)
5:45 p.m. Chandreyee’s group – musical concert
8:00 p.m. Closing

5th October, Sunday:
MC – Souptik Dutta
4:00 p.m. Program starts with Bengali & Hindi songs by Sambrita Basu
4:20 p.m. Katthak based dances with Bengali songs by Aditi (Piya) Bhattacharya
4:40 p.m. Bengali drama – “Hatto Melar Oparey” by Dhaka Drama Group, NY
5:30 p.m. Presentation by Youth Group
5:45 p.m. Break
6:00 p.m. Raghab Chatterjee – musical concert
8:00 p.m. Closing

MEET THE ARTISTS FOR THE 2008 DURGA PUJA

Please join the Sanskriti-dc.org in welcoming the following renowned artists to Washington, DC for entertaining our community at the 2008 Durga Puja that will be held at the Quince Orchard High School, October 4 and 5. On October 3, the decoration and preparation for the Durga Puja will begin at 8 pm.

Chandreyee Bhattacharya and her Band - Chandreyee is a student of Padmashri Hariharan and lives in Mumbai. She has performed at numerous occasions with her Guru Hariharan and also solo in Australia, New Zeeland, USA, and UK; and received several compliments. Even though, Chandreyee has a busy schedule, at the request of Sanskriti, she has agreed to take part in our Durga Puja to entertain us with her melodious voice. Besides performing at our Durga Puja, her travel plan extends to other cities such as Chicago St. Paul, San Francisco and ending her tour in Oklahoma City, performing for AAPI. AAPI is a group of young and energetic Bengali Talents. Besides Ghazals which she has mastered under the able guidance of Hariharanji, due to extensive training at the Kalavir Academy under famous Kalyanji, she has proven to be a rare talent in showing equal proficiency in Bollywood's immortal classics, modern fast paced movie songs as well as all time great from Bengali traditional and movie songs.
You may get a glimpse of her voice by the side of Hariharanji by visiting: Youtube and browsing for "Hariharan tour 2007". This is from a Zee TV ad where her clips represented one Ghazal, one movie song and one fast paced duet with Hariharanji.

RAGHAV CHATTERJEE - Raghab Chatterjee started modern music with a guiter at the age of 10. At age 20, he switched to vocal classical under the training of his mother Smt. Shila Chatterjee followed by training under Dr Amyo Ranjan Banerjee. He got admission into Sangeet Research Academy/ITC,as a scholar under Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty,and took lessons under Ustad Rashid Khan. He has many hit Bengali albums such as Bhorer Alo,Tumi Nei Bole, Amar Akash, Shamiana, Nameplate etc. In Hindi, he worked in popular fusions Raaga Rocks, Rishtaa, Bandish etc. He received many awards. To name a few: RD Burman Award, Uttam Kumar Award, Salil Chaudhuri Award, winner of Golden Talent Contest/HMV,Nation Scholarship. He performed in many TV serials such as Ak Chilte Roddur, Kono Ak Din etc. His popular films are Bandhan, Chokher Bali, Suvodristi, Chaturanga, Patal Ghar etc. In Hindi, Devdas, Tere Naam, Raincoat, Parinita etc. He performed in numerous shows all over India, USA, Canada, UK, Hong Kong, etc., for the past15 years. He likes to sing Bengali, Modern Hindi and classical based songs. Along with Raghav, other artists such as Biswadeb Biswas, Jayanta Biswas and Somen Sarkar will be participating at the 2008 Durga Puja.

“Asambhaver Chhando” - A children's presentation of a medley of rhymes and songs --some known and some new.Tha fantasy world of children has some "Ashambhab" thoughts which seem to have no meanings yet there is somehow a rythm-"Chhando" somewhere.Let us see whether this can take us back to our childhood.
Direction: Swati Chowdhury and Shukla Biswas
Community Kids: Anshul Chatterjee, Balaka Biswas, Antara Sarkar, Trinish Chatterjee, Soham Sen, Sreeya Chowdhury, Rajit Mukhopadhyay, Neil Kundagrami, Ricky Ghosh, Debika Biswas, Rakhi Kundu,, Raja Chakrabarty, Rishi Chakrabarty, Ronoy, Ishita Chaterjee.

Roshni Ghosh - Roshni has been popularly known for 13 years in the community as Mimi. Mimi has been trained in both classical Indian (Odissi) and Western dances (Hip-hop/Jazz/Ballet). She started dancing at the age of three. Dance is her passion and she loves to dance during her free time. She attempts to compose her own dance utilizing her formal training and her love for the invigorating Bollywood dance numbers. Roshni loves to participate in the community programs whenever she gets the opportunity. Lately she brought a lot of spice to the Sweet 16 Birthdays and high school graduation parties by organizing dance with her friends. Roshni has an overall love for dance and plans to continue dancing for the years to come.

UTSHAUBER CHHANDO – Mayur Dance Academy with their seven dancers will entertain the audience during the 2008 Durga Puja with breath taking dances. The concept and choregraphy are under the direction of Sukanya Mukherji, Artistic Director. Saraswati, the goddess of learning, Shiva the cosmic Dancer, Lakshmi the goddess of health, wealth and well being. All combined in one entity – Durga, - Mahishasuramardini. She is Shakti, - the power of creation, knowledge, health and wealth. She is also Kali, the form of an enraged woman. The season of her approach is the cause of celebration amongst Bengalis, and so we celebrate this season and the festive rhythm resounds in the universe around us. The dancers are: Mishka Mukherji; Uttara Nag; Antora Rahman; Bianka Roy; Esha Sirkar; Sree Sinha; and, Bhavna Sengupta.

Sanchari Ghosh - Sanchari is a promising singer with a mellifluous voice in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Born in a music loving family, Sanchari has always had a keen ear for music from her childhood. She started learning North Indian classical music from Smt. Mitali Saha at the age of nine. Sanchari is currently receiving rigorous training in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Hamid Hossain, a renowned musician in America. Sanchari has been continually performing in the greater Baltimore and Washington DC area. She was invited by the Indian Embassy in America to perform at the Indian Independence Day celebration in front of a large audience, including the Indian Ambassador and several other dignitaries in 2007, which was highly praised by the audience, and was broadcasted by TV Asia. In the same year, she delighted the international music lovers at the Asia Heritage Festival held in Washington DC. Her performances in the ‘Baisakhi’ celebration organized by ‘Sanskriti’, the Indian Republic day celebration held in Rockville, the Indian Heritage Festival held in Virginia in 2007 and in Saraswati Puja organized by ‘Prantik’ in 2008 received tremendous appreciation from the audiences. Recently in July 2008 Sanchari delighted the audiences with her outstanding performance in the North America Bengali Conference held in Toronto, Canada. You can go to youtube.com to hear a few of her songs. Ten ragas and one Bengali song performed by Sanchari are included in Sangeetpedia.com, the only on-line encyclopedia of Indian music. In addition to singing, Sanchari also learns classical Odissi dance from Dr. Chitra Krishnamurthy, and has been performing in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.

Aditi Bhattacharyya (Piya) - Aditi was initiated into Kathak by Smt. Rani Karnaa at the age of five. Ever since she has participated in various National and International forums winning acclaim from critics and audience alike. A winner of various National competitions like in Dover Lane Music Conference, Rajya Sangeet Academy and competition organized by the Youth Federation of the Govt of West Bengal, she is also a Nritya Visharad. Some of the various festivals she participated include Dover Lane Music Conference, Uday Shankar Dance Festival, International Dance Festivals, Konark Dance Festival, Khajuraho Dance Festival, Thyagraj Dance Festival and many more. An MBA in marketing communication and an advertising professional, her natural flair towards production management made her master the art of light designing and design productions for many National and International productions. She enjoys choreographing as well as teaching and very recently she collaborated with some of her colleagues to create and choreograph Shunya Se – a production on the mysticism of five elements.

Sambrita Basu(Rimi) - A fusion of Indian and Western pop, Rimi's self-titled album is released internationally by Indian mega-label T-Series. Her talent is evident, honed by nearly two decades of classical training, including a stint singing on the Peabody Choir. As a young girl, she was drawn to the Bollywood music that her Indian-born parents liked, favoring legends such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Asha Bhosle. Rimi draws her inspiration from them today as well as from international superstars such as Beyonce and Shakira — to whom she is often compared. Similar to Shakira, her music is instantly catchy and addictive, and like Shakira, Rimi is an accomplished dancer and has drop-dead gorgeous looks. "I'm very flattered by the comparisons," says Rimi. "I'm a huge Shakira fan and admire her"."My music is slightly different from the `norm,' but is still very relatable," explains Rimi. "The foot-tapping beats will make you just want to move your body! With increased globalization, we Americans are now more open to new kinds of music, and I feel we're ready for an Indian Pop Diva!" Her music samples can be heard online at www. my space.com/sambrita-music. More in "India Abroad" and "India Tribune" News.

HATTOMALAR OPAREY (Beyond the Land of Hattomala) - A play in Bengali Presented by Dhaka Drama, NY
Playwright: Badal Sircar, India; Director: Subhasis Das; Music: Rathindranath Roy, Bangladesh; Executive Producer: Golam Sarwar Harun; Duration of Play: 50 Minutes
CASTS: Golam Sarwar Harun. S. M. Kamal Hossin. Titu Gazi. Evan Chowdhury, Sumi, MD. M. Basunia Debashis Roy, Mohammed Jubayer Hossain, Manju Biswas, Tanbir Sarwar Rana, M. M. Ramzan Ali, Joy (madhab), A. R. Suman
The Play: Hattomalar Oparey (Beyond the Land of Hattomala) a novel by Premendra Mitra and Leela Majumder, serialized in the children’s magazine Sandesh, edited by Nalini Das and Satyajit Ray.
Story line: Two village thieves run for their life when they get chased by the villagers while in a mission. Without finding any other way, they jump into a river and get drowned. Next, they found themselves in a wonderland where everyone is happy and everything is free or looks like that everything is free. They get more and more confused on every interaction within this new environment. They try to steal on every single opportunity they get but in this land of “free” neither no one knows about stealing nor anything about money, as everyone is provided with everything free based on their needs. After much struggle and confusion "Becha" and 'Kena' realize the basic fact of life “if you can learn to share with everyone, then this wonderland is no more a fantasy".
Stay tuned….more information on other artists will be forthcoming.