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 Neogi (Insomnia)
 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 - electric band
Kalpak Seal, Shilpi Panja, Binit Ranjan Maitra, Bhaskar Dutta - violin
Soumak Bardhan, Tarun Mondol, PS Ramachandran - cello
Manabendra Das, Bidyut Kayal, Sayantan Neogi (Insomnia), 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

External links
 The Telegraph - concert coverage
 Ei muhurte - Moheener Ghoraguli Abar bochhor tirish pore

See also
Insomnia (band)

Category:Tribute concerts
Category:Moheener Ghoraguli