EVER SINCE the fans and family members of veteran musician Prafulla Kar formed the Prafulla Kar Foundation four years ago to keep alive his legacy, the music lovers of Bhubaneswar have the unique annual occasion – Kamala Desha Rajakumar - of listening to the scores of popular and lesser known songs that the musician scripted, sang or composed during his illustrious career while joining their favourite artiste’s birthday celebrations.
The Foundation added another unique event to its annual calendar this year by launching a series of thematic concerts containing different genres of Prafulla Kar’s music. While Krantidhara, staged at Jayadev Bhawan in the Capital on Sunday was the first of the series, Prema Dhara, Bhakti Dhara, Odissi Dhara and similar concerts are in the pipeline highlighting Prafulla Kar’s contribution to that particular stream of music.
The two-hour concert that the jam-packed audience at the auditorium thoroughly enjoyed, featured Prafulla Kar, his singer son Mahaprasad Kar, young and acclaimed singer Nazia Alam, daughter of Kar’s intimate friend and late legendary singer Sikandar Alam and Dukhishyam Tripathy, often referred to as Nemai Harichandan of today.
Aptly as the title of the concert suggested, the songs that Krantidhara featured were songs of revolution penned, composed and often sung by Prafulla Kar who turned 71 this year. Vande Utkal Janani, the most popular patriotic number, set the mood of the evening as a chorus rendered by the four singers together and touched the hearts instantly. The songs that followed like Bahijaere Ganga, Ude triranga from the film Balidaan were also equally captivating. There were also songs of satire on the social system and songs invoking change and revolution.
