A m©lange of Bengali music

Monali Sanyal Balasubramaniam is a woman of many talents. She is a singer, dancer and owns a music school in Chennai. Her passion towards music is immeasurable and it is this quality of hers that drives her and her students forward in life. Monali, along with pianist Karthik Ananth, guitarist Jaideep Vivekanand and percussionist Soundar Rajan, will be performing Bengali music to the Chennai crowd through the ‘Hues of Bengali Music’ concert. 

Speaking about their concert, Monali reveals, “I have performed Bengali music several times in Chennai and they were directed to a Bengali audience. But this particular concert is open to all kinds of people and we’re trying to prove that music is universal and beyond language. According to me, the sound is more important than words and I’m hoping people in Chennai would love it.” 

The tracklist of Hues of Bengali Music will also include songs that are a century old. “We have explored Bengali music and will perform different genres of it. When people hear the term Bengali music, they’re reminded of Sir Rabindranath Tagore. Of course, he has contributed a lot, but there are other talented musicians like Manabendra Mukherjee, RD Burman who have created wonderful music.  We have shortlisted nearly 15 songs which will consist of a Baul gaana (Sufism infused), Bhatiali (sung by the boatmen) and tribal songs,” she explains. 

Monali and her team teach different genres of music and instruments to the students at The School of Music in Adayar. “We teach them Hindustani, Carnatic, classical, instrumental music, Bharatanatyam and Odissi as well. There are nearly 100 students in the school and we believe in individual attention. Many teach for perfection, but I teach for passion. I want my children to feel the same and they should always love to sing and perform. There is no age restriction in the school — we have students from five years to 67 years old,” she concludes.

(The concert will be held from July 21 at The Learning Community at Quest, Palavakkam).