Kolkata, June 21 (PTI) Differently-abled children of ‘Manovikas Kendra’ performed before a cheering crowd at a function organised by the Alliance franaise du Bengale, a French language school here, on World Music Day today. The children of the rehab and research centre for the differently-abled (Manovikas Kendra) presented an instrumental fusion ‘Taltarang’. The day was also marked by performances by Bengali folk fusion band ‘Ujaan’ who belted out simple, traditional, songs with modern instrumentation effects as a young audience went ecstatic. During the evening, students of Alliance franaise du Bengale performed in the musical ‘Le Roi Soleil’ to commemorate the Fte de la Musique or World Music Day, an annual music celebration that takes place all over the world on this date. As part of the celebrations, a tram, decked with baloons, festoons and images of musical instruments started from Kidderpore tram depot and went around Kalighat, Rashbehari Crossing, Ballygunje depot, Tollygunje areas with members of Calcutta Arts and Music Lovers Association on board. Passers-by looked on as popular numbers of Kishore Kumar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Manna Dey, Bhupen Hazarika, Md Rafi amd Salil Chowdhury were sung by the young musicians in the tram car. “We have named this tour as ‘Tram Car Musical Journey’ and make people aware about our rich musical heritage on the occasion of World Music Day. Next year, we hope to take along a group of underprivileged kids,” Association spokesman Patrick Peter said. A theatre group ‘The Whole 9 Yards’ also celebrated the day by launching a music video based on a song ‘Homecoming’ from their latest production Harlesden High Street – a cafe musical. Concerts were also held in parks and public places of the city. The first all-day musical celebration on this day had taken place in Paris in 1982, according to the Alliance franaise du Bengale. PTI
