06/21/2024
It’s been a very long wait… We grew up doing music together in a family quite foreign to the idea of music being noble. My father, had a very different mindset. He loved music and the arts and encouraged all of us to do music as an extracurricular activity. Though my mother, who came from a family of musician and a musician herself, couldn’t continue playing Sitar, she was instrumental in our music education. I moved to the USA in the 1980s, and my brother and I continued our music in our own ways.
Last year, when we were in Kolkata, a thought came to my mind and I wasted no time in calling my brother to ask him if he wanted to record one of my compositions, He agreed without any hesitation and we got started right away!
Rik Basu had already booked “Gaan Bajna Music Garage” for dubbing my composition “Ei Prithibite”. That was in less than two day. I immediately started creating a click track for brother that evening at his house, (I always travel to Kolkata with a make-shift studio) and started teaching him the song. He had only one day to practice it and we headed to the studio on December 5, 2023 afternoon. Rik was done in an hour and my brother took a total of 45 minutes to dub the song.
I spend the entire month of May to write the orchestral arrangement and mixing it in my studio. Rik offered to do the Mastering in his studio.
It’s been a very emotional experience. I wrote “Ora Khelbe Kothay” more than 50 years ago, when I was an engineering student. I am so happy to have it sung so beautifully, by my own brother, Indranil (ArIneel). I feel blessed that I am able to dedicate this song to my grandson, Ashu, and all the children of the world.
I hope you can join the premiere at 10:30 AM IST on June 21. (I know it’s quite inconvenient for my US-based friends.) So no worries if you cannot. Please listen to the song at your convenience. Let me know if you like it and share if you do. Also, take a moment to subscribe to my YouTube Channel (Raktim Sen Music Lab) and follow me on Spotify.
YouTube Link.
A song dedicated to dear Ashu and all the children of the world!(To turn on English subtitles, please click the CC button near the top right corner of the vi...