I could feel the audience was restless with excitement for Soumik Datta. For this performance her created new music and collaborated with the Tabla performer, Arif Khan.
When they came on, they didn’t say anything, just an acknowledging smile to the audience. Whilst they tuned their instruments for the performance, a video came on the screen. It was a video consisting of random but colourful clips of Bengal.
As soon as Soumik started to play his sarod and Arif with his tabla, the audience were absolutely mesmerised. People were tapping their fingers, shaking their legs, nodding their heads or just listening in awe. Not only did their talents blend into a beautiful piece, but the chemistry between the two on stage was prominent too. The audience could really see the enjoyment and kick they get when playing together.
With Arif being an upcoming artist, the audience could see that Soumik did have to subtly push him to show his insane talent. But, I’m not saying this negatively because, if Soumik didn’t give Arif that little encouragement then people wouldn’t have seen Arif’s outstanding tabla skills. So I would like to thank him for enlightening us on Arif Khan so we can watch his journey to fame, just like we did with Soumik.
To sum it up, ‘Sounds of Bengal’ were two artists, who have big passions for their instruments, coming together to produce a night of beautifully composed/played music. The fact they even admitted that they accidentally produced ‘Sounds of Bengal’ by just filming daily life in Bengal on their phones made it even more amazing. It made it even more clear, not that it wasn’t clear enough, that Soumik Datta and Arif Khan truly are naturally talented people in this world.
by Shivani, Alchemist
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