A cultural evening featuring renditions of Pandit Swarnamoy Chakraborty was held in the port city on Saturday. On the occasion of launching his first vocal classical CD, Classical Music Students Forum Chittagong organised the programme at AK Khan Auditorium of Fulki.

As the chief guest, Chittagong University (CU) Vice Chancellor Prof Ifthekhar Uddin Chowdhury with other eminent personalities unveiled the cover of the CD at the programme.

The CD contains a Raga named Behag, a Thumri “Piya Bin Jiya Beete Jaye” and raga-based Bengali song “Nishi Jege Ghumaye Shey”. Pandit Samar Saha accompanied him on tabla for the album.

The main programme started by a choral classical rendition “Saptasure Rangin Aakashe” performed by the members of Classical Music Students Forum Chittagong. Pandit Swarnamoy composed the raga-based song. Following the performance, a short discussion was also held, presided over by Prof Rashida Khanam.

Prof Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury gave appreciation to Swarnamoy for publishing the CD.

Terming classical music as a meditative art, Ekushey Padak laureate artiste Ustad Azizul Islam appreciated the artiste for spreading classical music among the young minds in the city.

This event was also special as it marked the 49th birth anniversary of Pandit Swarnamoy. Born in Banshkhali upazila in Chittagong, Swarnamoy took his earliest lesson in classical music to his father Horiranjan Chakraborty. He later received lessons from maestros like Ustad Nirod Baran Barua and Pandit Arun Bhaduri.

The second session of the programme started with Raga Megh presented by Pandit Swarnamoy. He subsequently performed a Bandish in Raga Mishra Shivaranjani composed by Ustad Nirod Baran Barua. Sabuj Ahmed and Pramit Barua accompanied the artiste on tabla and harmonium respectively.