Barnali Saha, a much valued contributor to Washington Bangla Radio, reads the English translation by Norman Thomas di Giovanni of The Book of Sand - El libro de arena in the original Spanish - the 1975 valedictory short story by Jorge Luis Borges.

According to Mario Vargas Llosa, "Borges was a superb storyteller. One reads most of Borges's tales with the hypnotic interest usually reserved for reading detective fiction."

Jorge Luis Borges has been called the greatest Spanish-language writer of the twentieth century. Brilliantly translated and marvelously read out by Barnali, these stories combine a direct and at times almost colloquial style coupled with Borges's signature fantastic inventiveness. Barnali successfully showcases Borges's depth of vision and superb image-conjuring power.

Buy The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory in Penguin Classics edition on sale online - click here to order.

We present the following great Bengali Poems (Bangla Kobita) by legendary Bengali poets, recited by Barnali. We are airing Barnali's elocution on our live radio channel. You can also listen to them on-demand using the player.

• Sukumar Roy - Shotpatro
• Jibananda Das - Banalata Sen
• Joy Goswami - Malatibala Balika Bidyalaya | Benimadhab
• Kazi Nazrul Islam - Kandari Hoshiar
• Sukanta Bhattacharya - Charpatro

Submit your recitation for airing on our live Global Radio 24x7 Channel. Use the Contact link to contact us to broadcast your recitation, elocution, or songs on Washington Bangla Radio - the first & pioneering world-wide Bengali Online Radio Station.

Teresa Sebastián was born in Bilbao, Spain. She has been writing since she was a girl, and a winner of the "Premio Poesía de Primavera de la AAVV" award. Read all about Teresa, and watch online video of the outstanding "Poesi­a en Concierto - Tagore" (Tagore Poem In Concert) where Teresa Sebastian reads her own poem "Tagore" live with musicians J.C. Blancas on electronics/keyboards, X.Paixarino on the flute and Niraj Kumar on the Tabla.

A series of Spanish poetry recitations accompanied with musical performances will be held during the new edition of the unique Poetry in Concert program to be held from 27th to 30th July, 2010.

2010 marks the premiere of  "new house" in the Spanish Theater - which is an exciting happening for Poetry in Concert enthusiasts everywhere.

Teresa Sebastian, who has famously composed and performed her wonderful "Poesi­a en Concierto - Tagore" (Tagore Poem In Concert), will perform in, and is also the Artistic Coordinator of, the event.

Washington Bangla Radio is glad to present the entire original poem and an English translation of Teresa Sebastian's poem "Tagore" as well as a live recording of Teresa reading her own poem "Tagore" with musicians J.C. Blancas on electronics/keyboards, X.Paixarino on the flute and Niraj Kumar on the Tabla.

Creative writer, painter and elocutionist Brototi Paul won her first award in a recitation competition at age 3. Since then, she has won numerous awards in elocution at local and regional levels.  Her first book ASWAD, a book of poems, and her second book ATO TUKU ASHA – a novel, were inaugurated at the Kolkata International Book Fair in 2004 and 2005. Listen to Brototi's recitation of her own poems.

Submit your recitation for airing on WBRi global live Radio Channel.

Poet-songwriter-singer-elocutionist ILA ROY is perhaps not known to you, but after a few minutes you may get a idea of who she his through her words.

Ila Roy was born to Promila and Subodh Chandra Roy  and lives in Duttapukur, a little village in West Bengal, India. . She considers herself a simple lady, a patriotic Indian, and proud of her country's heritage of great personalities of the stature of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda.

Ila says, "Mother is the most favorite word in my world." Unfortunately, Ila lost her mother in 2007, and remembers telling her mother "Bhalo Theko" (take care) just after she embarked on her final journey.  Ila's first book of poems, titled "Bhalo Theko", dedicated to her mother, was published in 2008.

After her first book, Ila has been busy writing poems which are regularly published in many Bengali Little Magazines, including Prometheus-er Pothe, Samajdarpon, Annoman, Nirbed, Choitali, etc.

Ila has a graduate degree from Calcutta University and a Masters degree from Rabindra Bharati  University. She has hosted Radio shows on All India Radio (Akashvani) from 2003 to 2007.

Ila says, "I love nature and want to help the poor and the solitary people because I think I am born for others."

Listen to recitation by Ila Roy of her own poems . Washington Bangla Radio is also broadcasting these recordings on our live Radio channel online.

As commenced earlier, the solo recitation program of Sumantra Sengupta as “Eka, Eka Noi” was held on 28th June rainy evening at Rabindrasadan, Kolkata.

^{Meye (The Girl Child) - a bengali poem by Santwana Chatterjee in unicode Bangla font.}

মেয়ে

সান্ত্বনা চট্টোপাধ্যায়

তুমি নগ্ন অসহায়, ফুটপাথে বসতি বানাও,
বিগবাজার, সাউথ সিটি মল,
...

My homage to Kobiguru on his 150th birth centenary this year - 'Duhsamay' from his "Kalpana" selection of poems.

Submit your recitations to be aired on our live radio channel.

Kolkata, India, June 25, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio) There was a time when recitation was confined to the solo regimentation of the artist. But Sumantra thought otherwise. The rhythm of poetry brings more joy if shared with others. So, 23rd July, 1989, saw the birth of "SANKHAMALA".

Now everything changes fast as years rolled on, Sumantra with the passage of time passed out of the school portals, obtaining marks of distinction and acquitting creditably very well in being able to occupy enviable 1 st and 2nd rank among the contestant competitors in recitation. He made a long stride in pursuit of higher studies of college in the face of galaxy of stumbling blocks which could have handicapped any boy of mediocrity and he qualified ably himself as an Honors graduate in the teeth of baffling financial circumstances and obtained with confidence a good Masters Degree from Calcutta University.

Sumantra began gradually to come to limelight to make a mark in a mile-stone of steady progress towards the goal, the height of glory. The elegant lustre of his meteoric rise at the pinnacle of name and fame, can be traced to the sight of packed house, listening, being spellbound with undivided at( tention. When Sumantra's maiden solo appearance named as "Sisir-a Sumantra" at the adorned stage of 'Sisir Mancha' which was colourfully designed by the great wizard and colossus in the world of magic spell of light Sri Tapas Sen possessing an international fame all the world over, to recite in full throated voice exclusively from memory for three consecutive hours, was really a marvelously spectacular to see Sumantra manifesting himself fully with all glare in the year of 1999 in the month of December.

A rare cherished occasion which awaited blissfully Sumantra in the arena of elocution, was availed of at an oppourtune moment that he accomplished with buoyant zeal and splendidly as a singularly lone reciter consecutively for three hours at the illustriously reputed auditorium of 'Shantiniketan' entitled 'Natya Ghar' apparently reminiscent of Rabindra Nath's glory and great fame as an actor in 'Valmiki Prativa' before the adorned audience comprising a galaxy of vishavarati varsity teachers and professors, eminent sculptors and painters and Visha-Varati varsity personal.

The old proverb, 'running thus like nothing succeed like success' is evidently belied at the sight of revelation of spectacularly outstanding performance in terms of cassettes entitled "Ami Ki Rokom Vabe Benche Achi" coming to light on 14th February in 2001, was adjudged on the merit of intrinsic calibre and grit as the best of the stupendously excellent performance of the contestant elocutors and reciters of eminence in the whole of West Bengal on the occasion of "Bangla Sangeet Cholochitra Samman".

PARAMITA PALIT is a molecular biologist by profession. Paramita has an inborn creativity from the age of three years when she performed first time on stage and received an award. A poet, elocutionist, dancer - all together a multifacet personality, Paramita feels herself most comfortable as an anchor. She has won various awards in inter-state, inter-college and inter-university competetions in debate, extempore and recitation. She has trained herself through the workshops conducted by famous group thetre of Kolkata Nandikar and has successfully performed in Nandikar Jatiya Natyamela as a child artist. Being a post doctoral student in molecular biology in NRCPB, New Delhi , she spends most of her time in her research work. She has published her research work in a number of scientific journals of international repute. In spite of that her passion drives her to spend her leisure time with poetry.

Paramita has anchored a number of programs in New Delhi too. Here is a small bouque of her selected recitation mostly of Rabindranath Tagore:

• CAMELLIA - A famous creation of Rabindranath Tagore that portrays the silent love of a Bengali boy..
• SADHARAN MEYE a story of a common Bengali girl next door whom the poet made immortal by beautifully painting her love and agony in this poem. 

Submit your elocution, recitation and songs for global broadcast on Washington Bangla Radio using the Contact link in the main menu at top.

Barnali is a creative writer, painter and elocutionist from Nashville, TN, and is a regular contributor to Washington Bangla Radio.

In this article in the Washington Bangla Radio Online Magazine (e-zine) section, Barnali Saha translates acclaimed Bengali poet Joy Goswami's famous poem Malatibala Balika Bidyalay (Malatibala Girls' School) into English. Also watch a free video online of Barnali reciting the Bengali original poem.

Contribute to WBRi - Use The Contact link to submit your songs, recitation, creative writing, painting etc. for global broadcast.

Nandini Mukherjee is an experienced practitioner of Rabidrasangeet (songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore). She trained under Amar Lahiri, an outstanding exponent of the varied styles of the genre, and a disciple of Subinoy Roy. Earlier, Nandini underwent formal training in Hindustani classical music at Geetabithi founded by Subinoy Roy.

Nandini believes that the essence of Rabindrasangeet lies not only in its poetry and inimitable musical style but also in its unmatched emotional appeal. Her belief echoes Tagore himself, who, by characterizing his music as Bhavsangeet, sought to emphasize emotion over technique. He therefore classified his compositions in terms of their emotional appeal to people as Puja (devotion), Prem (love), Prakriti (nature) and Swadesh (patriotism), and not as the different classical or folk forms of music from which he drew inspiration.

Being Bhavsangeet, Rabindrasangeet has a universal appeal, transcending barriers of language and nationality. The cause of universality is furthered by Tagore's unfettered acceptance of musical styles from lands faraway and near, which he synthesized and harmonized to constitute his own, inimitable brand of music.

It is in continuance of this pursuit that Nandini's renditions have been accompanied by narration in English.

Nandini performs lives at venues in Bangalore and Kolkata.

Listen to English Narration and Rabindra Sangeet by Nandini.

April 9, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio) - By Subhomoy Mukherjee, WBRi Kolkata Correspondent: The space anywhere available is not enough to write something about Elocutionist Guru Shri Partho Mukhopadhyay. I have so many words to write that I complete ultimately by writing a little. He is really Guru by nature because anybody can describe him as teacher rather than performer. He always skips the opportunity to perform and provide the space for his students as he always seems happiest to see his students famous. We can take example of one and only elocutionist Bratati Bandapadhyay, his most famous and favorite disciple.

Partho Mukhopadhyay's solo programme on 2nd February, 2010 at Rabindra Sadan is a tribute of Sarathi disciples to their Guru. His accompanist was Santanu Bandopadhyay on Background Music. The set was very good that day. His excellent presentation was divided into two parts.

 Listen to a complete audio recording from Partho Mukhopadhyay's program online via WBRi on-demand Bangla Radio service. These rare and unique recordings are also being broadcast on Washington Bangla Online Radio channel.

Pinaki was awarded ABRITTI RATNA (2004) in a function at Bangla Academy by Padmashree Debdulal Bandopadhyay on behalf of Samantaral for his contribution in recitation and his youthfulness in performance (‘tarunyo r abrittir hridoye hridoy joge korechhen….’). The function was covered by DD News and other media.

His audio album DECEMBER 6 was released by Washington Bangla Radio partner Music 2000. Listen to audio clips online from his Bengali recitation album December 6.