Yes, it is that time of the year again when we forget all about about our normal existence and mingle with the milieu to celebrate one weekend of Durga Puja. The typical sound of shaankh, smell of dhuno and shuffling of saris will bring back sweet reminiscenses of Durgotsav. We are celebrating the long awaited Durga Puja on October 20 and 21, 2012 at Chabot College in Hayward, CA. You are invited to join us.
See pictures taken at Durga Puja 2012
[important title="Note about Highway 92 closures"]If you live on the West Bay and want to cross over to Hayward, you cannot use Highway 92 during the weekend as it will be closed. You have to take Highway 84 to cross the bay. San Mateo-Hayward Bridge portion of Hwy 92 will be closed in both directions between the Foster City Blvd interchange in Foster City and the Clawiter Road interchange in Hayward over the weekends of October 19-22 and October 26-29. On both weekends, the bridge will close at 10 p.m. on Friday and reopen at 5 a.m. on Monday. See more details about Highway 92 closure.[/important]
Schedule of Activities
| Time | Description | Comments |
| 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM | Maha Saptami Puja | |
| 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM | Pushpanjali and Arati | |
| From 12:30 PM | Prasad distribution | |
| 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM |
Khichiri Bhog dristribution |
|
| 4:00 PM | Auditorium Opens | |
| 4:15 PM |
Program starts : Opening dance |
|
| 4:25 PM | Mahalaya (see description below) |
|
| 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM | Ashtami Sandhi Nabami puja |
|
| 7:00 PM -7:20 PM | Dhunuchi Naach | |
| 8:15 PM | Auditorium opens for professional program |
|
| 8:45 PM | Musical performance by KK - The Mesmerizer |
See below for ticket purchase |
| Time | Description | Comments |
| 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Maha Dashami Puja | |
| 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM |
Pushpanjali | |
| 2.00 PM - 3:00 PM |
Devi Baran, Bisharjan Prasad distribution | |
| 2:30 pm |
Auditorium opens for cultural programs |
|
| 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM |
Gogone Udilo Robi (a play based on Rabindranath's Tota Kaahini) |
|
| 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM |
Six Strings and a Decade (a Musical programme) |
|
| 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM |
Professional programme - Musical concert by Manomoy Bhattacharya |
See below for ticket purchase |
KK- The Bollywood Mesmerizer
Saturday, October 20th, 2012
From Pyaar Ke Pal to Ek Pal Ke Liye - from Main Khuda to Dil Ibaadat - from Power Ballad to Ye Kahaan, singer KK has touched many hearts, stimulated many minds, changed many lives, inspired many souls, all through the raw power of his voice.
Versatility incarnate, his many avatars - passionate, melancholy, romantic, crazy - are all of a standard that hardly any can hope to achieve. The comforting constancy of rock may be his default genre, yet he manages to bring to every song a touch of something different - a glimpse of the sublime.Those who have listened to his captivating notes - felt his shattering, scintillating power - it is they who have lived; it is they who have looked up and seen Paradise. We, therefore, are here to celebrate the power of music - the voice of the heavens - power incarnate - KK, the Mesmerizer.
You can listen to KK here:
Manomoy Bhattacharya - The Golden Voice of Bengal
Sunday, October 21st, 2012
Manomay the tier one singer of Bengal, is the fifth generation of Jadubhatta. He has had extensive training in music at the age of 4 under the vigilant guidance of father Sri Dhrubadas Bhattacharya, a disciple of Subinoy Roy, and mother Ila Bhattacharya, a disciple of Ratneswar Mukherjee.
Manomay places himself under the tutelage of Benukumar Dobey, Bibhuti Bose & Jayanta Bose, who trained him a finer nuance of Classical music. He learnt Tagore songs from father and various items of songs viz. Nazrul Geeti, Rajnikanter Gaan, Atulprasad, Dewijendra Geeti, Ragpradhan, Bhajan & Modern Bengali songs from illustrious teachers like Biman Mukhopadhyay, Sukumar Mitra, Dilip Roy, Anal Chattopadhyay, Sanjay Chakraborty, Jatileshwar Mukhopadhyay and still in close touch with Pandit Ajay Chakraborty with whom varied songs are learnt.
Listen to Manomoy here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgIgaK0rig4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtgkbahUmKA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJgNO-F81U
[important title="Event tickets for non-members"]Non-members can purchase or pickup tickets for Monomoy concert at Chabot College on Saturday and Sunday. We only have balcony tickets ($40) available for this show.[/important]
Mahalaya
Participants:
Singers: Manidipa Bhattacherya, Sonali Bhattachrya, Sangeeta Chowdhury, Deblina Mukherjee, Sudip Nag, Prasenjit Biswas, Nilanjn Sarkar, Kushal Chakraborty
Stotra Path: Birendra Krishna Bhadra
Musicians:
Biswapesh Chattopadhyay - Key Board
Satish Gadagkar - Violin
Ben Kunin - Sarode
Pradosh Sarkar - Tabla
Surjeet Singh - Tabla
Brinda Govindan - Flute
Sonali Bhattacharya - Harmonium
Multimedia/Visual effects: Prasenjit Sengupta
Technical Help : Siddhartha Chattopadhyay, Biswapesh Chattopadhyay, Prasenjit Sengupta, Tinni Thompson
Stage Decor: Prasenjit Sengupta, Sangeeta Chowdhury, Mousumi Chatterjee
Music Direction: Manidipa Bhattacharya and Sonali Bhattacharya
Co-ordination and Direction: Manidipa Bhattacharya
Gogone Udilo Robi, The Dawn of Realization
- A play based on Robithakur's Totakahini, by Children's Theater
Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy of education was an open ended road to enlightenment. Tagore was a believer that human mind nurtured in consciousness and liberation is the building block to a strong and unified society.
He championed the faith that a free mind is a conscious mind.
A conscious mind is the seat of divine knowledge.
Divinity is absorbing the light in art science music and human dynamics through close contact with Nature and Man.
To achieve that, Children’s Theater travels to Jhilmil State to free Tota, the young spirit of studenthood, and liberate all young minds as Tagore would have wanted.
Production Team: Children’s Theater
Direction: Soumen Ghosh
Script: Sumona Bagchi
Choreography: Kasturi Basu
Team Co-ordinator: Ruma Sanyal
Lights: Angira Dey
Sound: Anupam Bagchi
The Tota team:
Arooshi Barua, Anooshka Barua, Piyali Banerjee
Comperes: Shreya Basu, Sohini Ghosh and Tiara Bhatacharya.
The beautiful dancers of Jhilmil kingdom, who dance away by the River Kopaii.
Triya Basu, Udita Saha, Urbi Saha, Anushka Saha, Mohini Banerjee, Zinnia Saha, Oishika Barat, Ayushi Ray and Piyali Banerjee.
The Kingdom Itself:
Prohori 1: Ronojit Bhowmik Prohori 2:Ayush Dutta
Ghoshok 1: Ronit Dey Ghoshok 2: Neil Chatterjee
Bhagineo 1: Anika Sanyal
Bhagineo 2: Anusikha Halder
Shornokar: Anushka Sanyal
Lipikawr: Josh Sanyal
Hukka carrier: Sanmitra Banerjee
Raja: Rishav Ghosh
Montri: Rishab Mitra
Gaan moshaii: Pranay Sen
Shikkhok moshaii: Joshojit Bhowmik
Pondit: Kushal Chatterjee
The jhilmil children:
Rini : Poulomi Banerjee
Bini: Oeishi Banerjee
Tapur: Samrat Ghosh
Our school teacher: Dipsikha Halder
The Music maker-Baul: Somsubhro Dhar
The Revolutionary Spirit-Pupedidi: Rukmini Banerjee
And The Storyteller-Thakurdada: Arka Bagchi
6 strings and a decade
Bengali music is known to keep reinventing itself over time. In the last decade, we have seen new styles of music emerging in Bengali cinematography - bold new melodies, rich experimentations with world music, situational lyrics and a penchant for the non-traditional. Think of "Bong connection", "Chalo Lets Go", "Ganer Opare" serial - you get the idea. In this program, a band of singers, musicians and dancers will present a montage of the works of some of these new age music directors.
Direction:
Concept, music and production: Siddhartha Chattopadhyay
Choreography: Dalia Sen
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