ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

Washington DC, Sep 20, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) Bengali singer Ipsita Mukherjee chats with Esha Basu Roy about her new folk album "Folk Tantra - Folk at it's Grooving Best" featuring six Bengali folk, baul, bhatiyali and lalangeeti classics presented with a contemporary touch. Also listen to free audio samples online from the album.

Ipsita grew up in Sonarpur, a small town in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, in a family environment where Indian classical music was given immense importance - her first music teacher was her uncle. A talented singer from early on, Ipsita took lessons in singing from various gurus, and was a finalist at the 2002 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa reality talent hunt television show. She lived in Mumbai for a while and returned to Kolkata after her wedding.

Folk Tantra is published by Purple Music of Kolkata - you can download albums from Purple in audiophile quality from our exclsuive digital MP3 download service.

Washington DC, Aug 14, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) Paromita Biswas, an accomplished singer herself who lives here, caught up and recorded this musical video interview with the well-known folk-songs researcher, singer of folk and Bengali Film songs, music director and composer Abhijit Basu (Bose) who was visiting DC at the time.

Listen to the musician as he chats about his background and experience and sings extempore.

Bengali Films (Click Here to Order DVD in USA & Canada »)
Kntatar, Directed by:- Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay
Kaal, Directed by:- Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay
Houseful, Directed by:- Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay
Eka Eka, Directed by:- Tapas Majumdar
Hello Kolkata Kemon Acho, Directed by:- Monoj Michigan
Kagojer Bou, Directed by:- Bappaditya Bandhopadhyay
Chhatrak , Directed by VIMUKTI JAY SUNDERE

Washington DC, Jan 19, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) Acclaimed Bengali singer Lopamudra Mitra from Kolkata has released her 2nd audio album titled MON FAKIRA (Soulmate) via ORION Entertainment. MONFAKIRA is available in high-quality MP3 Download format from WBRi Online Digital Download Store >

Lopamudra gave us a few minutes of her time for this informal chit-chat with Arijit Chakraborty. She talks about there being eight songs in the album, all but one of which are popular Bengali traditional folk songs. The remaining one is the famous song Ghate Lagaiya Dinga written by Mira Dev Burman and performed originally by the great Sachin Dev Burman. Do not miss Lopamudra's singing during the course of the conversation !

Lopamudra shares with us the reason for the title of the album - all artists have a fakir/baul persona embedded deep inside their hearts, though not necessarily deeply entrenched in fakir and baul philosophies and ways in life. Particularly for an artist like Lopamudra who has grown up and lives in a metropolitan urban environment, the Baul inside her is more of a feeling - which Lopamudra captures in the selection of the songs as well as their performance. The songs are about love, friendship and Baul philosophical values, and Lopamudra talks about how she could clearly feel closer to her roots while singing these songs now more than she ever did previosuly.

CALCUTTA, Nov 4, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio) Ritobina Chakraborty is a cute girl from Salt Lake AKA Bidhannagar, Kolkata who is barely in her teens. We discovered her talent when we happened to watch her dancing on stage at a Salt Lake Block Durga Puja Pandal. The young danseuse caught our eyes immediately with her impressive performance dancing to the song Fagunero Mohonaye popularized by acclaimed Bengali Folk-Fusion Band BHOOMI. Watch her dance performance video on Washington Bangla Radio.

Germantown, Maryland, Oct 17, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio) The popular and award-winning music band KAYA from Kolkata performed live at the annual Durga Puja festival organized by Sanskriti of Washington DC Metropolitan area to a full auditorium at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland on October 16, 2010.

Kaya is the winner of BIG Bangla Rock/Pop song of the year at IDEA BIG BANGLA MUSIC AWARDS held at Science City auditorium, Kolkata on Aug 13th, 2010. KAYA also composed and performed the music in Bappaditya Bandopadhyay's National Award winning film HOUSEFULL (2009) in which playback singer NILANJANA SARKAR received the best playback singer (female) award.

Sanskriti is one of oldest and highly respected Bengali cultural organizations in the United States, acclaimed for it's organizing abilities including hosting the best North American Bengali Conference (NABC) ever in 2004 - a feat that is expected widely to be surpassed by Sanskriti's organization of NABC 2011 once again.

After Kaya's fabulous live show, Sanskriti's president Tapan Bera hosted an exclusive Washington Bangla Radio interview with the talented members of the band that is posted separately on this web-site.

Watch Washington Bangla Radio exclusive live coverage video of KAYA performing live in Washington DC, USA and relive the evening if you were there.