Shreya Ghosal

Her early days as a singer started from the age of four. She belongs to a highly academic family. Her father is an Engineer in the nuclear power plant by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. and mother is a postgraduate in literature. Her mother was a good singer and whenever she used to play any note on the harmonium, Shreya used to sing correctly of her own. Her father recognized her talent and decided to give her proper training. But as she was residing in an isolated place near Kota, Rajasthan. Later on she started going to Kota and started learning proper Hindustani classical music.

Her first break came through TVS Sa Re Ga Ma, the music talent hunt show on Zee TV. Being a perpetual contestant and winner of several episodes, she was selected for the 75th Children’s special episode of TVS Sa Re Ga Ma, which she won. Later on, she also won the children’s mega final show way back in 1996, at the age of twelve. During one of the episodes, Sanjay Leela Bhansali heard her and was very impressed. After a year and a half, Sanjay Bhansali called her. That’s how Devdas happened, her debut film as a playback singer.

Currently Shreya is pursuing her Final year B.A. degree She enjoys Symphony and instrumental in western music and her favourite is ABBA group. But Indian music is definitely her soul. Her voice has a texture that suits romantic songs and she can project voice very well (remember "Jadu Hai Nasha Hai " from Jism ).She is also comfortable singing sad songs or peppy songs. She has recorded in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Marathi, besides Hindi. Apart from Devdas, she has done Jism, Saaya, Inteha, Out of Control, Khakee, Munnabhai MBBS, Dhoop, Kuchh Kaha Aapne, Aarman, Desh Devi, Tujhe Meri Kasam, LOC, Aetbaar, Police Force etc.

Shreya Ghosal will be accompanied by two male singers and an eight-member orchestra from Mumbai. (This is not a karaoke program)

Srikanta Acharya

His soft, soothing music takes us on a dreamy cruise far from this world of realties. Srikanta Acahrya, with his emotive voice, does justice to the intricate naunces evident in most of the numbers. In all his voice reinstills our belief that the present generation of artistes, given the due time, can help redeem Bengali modern music among the masses.

Srikanta Acharya will be accompanied by a four-member orchestra from Kolkata.

'Amader Pujo' - A workshop by Arna Seal

The objective of this interactive workshop is to take you through an experiential journey that brings out the essence of Pujo, as perceived and experienced by you, and helping construct an understanding of the festival in your own terms amid the diversity of sub-cultures that you grow up in. The ultimate aim is to help each of you enjoy the true spirit of the festival through the cultural activities, rituals and celebrations that you see around during the Pujo celebrations. The creative work done by the participants of this workshop will be displayed after the workshop.

About Arna Seal: A Ph.D in Sociology from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Arna Seal has thirteen years of experience in conducting various social, psychological and environmental studies and training in rural, tribal and urban areas across India.  Currently working professionally as a free-lance Social Research consultant (her book Negotiating Intimacies: Sexualities, Birth Control and Poor Households was published by Stree in the year 2000), Arna has also been involved as a social worker for the past eighteen years, working with children from different socio-economic backgrounds in both urban and rural areas.   She writes stories, songs, skits and poems for children, communicating messages on social justice, gender, language training and health issues. Her songs and skits are sung and enacted by both rural and urban children. Arna is also a lyricist of Bangla songs, which can be heard, in audio releases of Shreya, Sohini and Ranjini, Suvomita and Srikanto Acharya.  Arna has contributed contents for schoolnet, a portal for school going children. Arna’s publications for children include Tata-r Boi Ek: Paye Paye Portay Shekha - 2004, Bini-r Shomoy-2003and Tata-r Boi Dui: Paye Paye Portay Shekha(In print).

Arna lives in Kolkata, with her husband Srikanta Acharya, a singer, eight -year-old daughter Proiti and four and a half year old son Purab, mother-in-law, mother, father, a dog Puchi and two cats Tushi and Chiki.

Important: If you are a non-member and wish to participate in the Children's Talent Show or Workshop, we encourage you to become members as you can participate in all our events, throughout the year, free of charge. Otherwise, there will be a nominal charge of $25.00 per participant per performance. As of Oct 10, 2004, registration for Amader Pujo is closed since all seats are filled up.

Mahalaya

Mahalaya, an integral part of the overall celebration of Durga Puja, heralds the advent of the Goddess Durga amongst us. It is presented in the form of unique devotional songs, along with the chanting of the Chandi Path.

Mahalaya, which is also known as Mahisashura Mardini, signifies the destruction of the demon called Mahisashur by our beloved Goddess Durga. It is a mythological story and depicts the demon as evil. It tells us how the Gods empowered Durga with their own special powers and weapons to fight the evil form of the demon. With the demise of the demon came peace and hope. Soon happiness prevailed all over the Universe.

Indulge in the nostalgic memories of Mahalaya with us this year, as we launch the 3-day long celebration. You will remember the days when the enchanting voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra filled up the predawn hours of the day as Calcutta radio presented Mahalaya.

Although Mahalaya is no longer featured by Calcutta radio as a live broadcast, it still has remained a tradition among us. Away from home, ten thousand miles away, Prabasi has continued to entertain our large Bengali Community by organizing live Mahalaya. It has done so almost for the last fifteen years. The quality of the program has always been of a very high standard and has earned the respect of our community.

This year also, it will be a featured cultural event and will be presented by our local group of talents on October 15th, at 7:45 P.M. in Chabot College auditorium. It is being directed by Sonali Bhattacharya and the singers are Sonali Bhattacharya, Indrani Bhattacharya, Manidipa Bhattacharya, Sumita Chakravorty, Sudeshna Chatterjee, Alaknanda Mukherjee, Prasenjit Biswas, Sudip Nag, Abhra Roy and Nilanjan Sarkar. The narration of Chandi Path will be done by Aloke Chatterjee. Notable musicians include Brinda Govindan on Flute, Rachel Unterseher on Violin, Uttam Chakraborty on Tabla and Ranjan Biswas on Keyboard.

SamPan - A Boat for a unique musical journey

SamPan (pronounced as Saampaan) is a San Francisco Bay Area based grassroots Bengali music band, formed in 2003. Literally, the word "SamPan" means "Boat" - but symbolically SamPan embodies a musical boat being rowed upstream by a spirited group of people, through the rough waters of our busy and fast lives. Sampan believes that music is the real but abstract form of _expression and communication to take our own gray matter, heart and soul in a higher ground. And in that collective effort, the performing musicians and audiences equally participate to make it happen through the melodious tune and powerful lyrics. Our own reality, everyday life, our past, our present, our future and of course our root, plays a major role to shape the music we create and perform. For that very reason, SamPan recognizes the need to nurture the rich history of Bengali music from folk, rabi thakurer gaan, adhunik to the graffiti of urban folk and contemporary music among the community and in turn to enrich ourselves, by the collective experience. Though our medium is Bengali music, we are international in our spirit and draw our inspiration from the music of the world - from calypso, jazz, rock’n’roll to our own baul, bhatiyali or purono diner gaan.

SamPan consists of amateur musicians and vocalists. Here are the current members of SaamPan:

Aanubrata Mitra - Events co-coordinator
Anurupa Chakraborty - Female Vocal
Jayanta Bhowmik - Guitarist and Male Vocal
Jayanta Mukhopadhyay - Composer and Male Vocal
Pradip Sen - Keyboard and Supporting Male Vocal
Rajarshi Banerjee - Drummer
Rajat Sengupta - Percussion and Supporting Male Vocal
Nabarupa Banerjee - Female Vocal
Sailen Saha - Male Vocal
Sipra Ghosh - Female Vocal & MC
Sraboni Saha - Female Vocal
Subhen Khatua - Lead Guitarist, guest artist from well-known bay area group Ehsaas.
Join the journey to the sea of music on board of SamPan.

It’s time to row. Together.

It’s time to make waves.

Chidren's Talent Show

Calling on all children of the bay area!

1. Art competition - We are looking to decorate the Chabot College from 15th to the 17th with posters from you. The theme is ‘Durga Puja with a touch of Fall’ but be creative. Remember that every poster will be displayed on campus for 3 days, so you definitely want to do your best. To get your poster to us, come to Chabot College on Friday evening or Saturday morning and leave it at the registration desk. Posters will be judged at school level: Primary K - 3rd, Elementary - 4th-5th, Middle School 6th-8th and High School 9th-12th. There will be a winner at every level and a runner up.

2. An outdoor children’s talent show for all ages. On Saturday, 16th October, we will have a talent show. This time, the talent show will display team work. NO MORE SOLOS. We need you to team up with at least one more person to perform at the talent show. You can do a dance, sing songs together, perform a 3-minute skit. At least 2 participants per performance. The talent show will be from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm. To participate, you have to register via email by Oct 13th. The subject of the email should say: ‘Children’s talent show’. You can participate in both, - the talent and the ‘Amader Pujo’ (see below) but email Sushmita Datta separately for each at: datta99@yahoo.com

3. An exclusive indoor children’s workshop for 6-9 year olds only, given by Arna Seal from Kolkata. The workshop objective is given above. The workshop will be on Saturday, Oct 16th from 3:00 - 6:00 at Chabot College, behind the auditorium. To enroll in the workshop, you have to register by emailing Sushmita Datta at: datta99@yahoo.com We need your name, age, grade, The subject of the email should say: ‘Registration for Amader Pujo workshop’.