On June 26th, 2008, Nehru Centre, the cultural Wing of the High Commission of India in London presented a stunning confluence of semi-classical of violin recital “jugalbandi” with Minoti Khaund, the award winning violin maestro whose musical career spanning 50 years and her daughter Sunita Bhuyan, the recipient of the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini award for music and has been giving performances both solos and duets with her mother on the world stage.
Sunita is one of the few musicians who balances a full time HR career along with her inherited passion for music. She is the Head of Learning and Development at Syntel, a global ITES company which entails her to train managers on leadership and all round development.
The function was inaugurated by Monika Kopil Mohta, Director and Minister of Culture. She spoke highly about the art and culture of North-East and welcome the invited guest artists of Assam: Minoti Khaund & Sunita Bhuyan.
Sunita Bhuyan in her speech conveyed her gratitude to the Director for giving them the opportunity to perform at this prestigious venue. She also thanked Rini Kakati, a prominent lady of the Assamese community who is instrumental to make this possible.
Both mother & daughter held the audience in complete thrall with their performance of jugalbandi in what was a fitting finale to the long list of cultural activities at the Nehru Centre. Virtues of simplicity and grace that made both Minoti & Sunita the most enchanting artist of the musical world of Assam, showed up in ample evidence during the performance by the yesteryear Assamese sensation.
The evening was started by raag Hanswadhani in Rupak and Teental. The Teental composition was an old and popular Khyal “Laagi Lagana”. This item resulted in the jhala crescendo which left audience spellbound. The next item was a scintillating light classical piece called Bharat Darshan. This had various folk tunes from different parts of India with a special piece of Assamese Bihu.
The grand finale was rendition of Vande Matarm: a superb vocal presentation of the powerful lyrics by Sunita. The audience were moved and became emotional. The duo were accompanied by well-known tablist from Bangladesh: Yusuf Ali Khan. The Asian & European audiences were overwhelmed by the performance and expressed that they had enjoyed the evening as a memorable one.
The invited guest of honour was Lord Dholakia & Lady Ann, Madhava Chandra, the minister representing the Indian High Commission, Jahnu Barua, the well-known film producer & director of Assam. In a traditional Assamese way, the dignitaries were felicitated with phulam gamosa.
In his closing speech Lord Dholakia mentioned about the richness of the north-east especially Assam and the importance of showcasing unity in cultural diversity. He mentioned his fruitful visit to Assam in the year 2005. As a state guest he was invited by Tarun Gogoi, Hounr’ ble Chief Minister of Assam to inaugurate the North-East NRI Convention at Guwahati organised by NECCI (North East Chamber of Commerce & Industry). He praised Minoti & Sunita specially the mother for her tremendous effort to train Sunita not only in violin but also a vocalist. Their next performance surely will be at the House of Lords. Lord Dholakia promised.
The jugalbandi performance was given a standing ovation by the huge audience when they played at the Hindu Cultural Centre, London on 14th June, 2008
The Milapfest of Manchester and Nottingham Arts Council slot were on hold due to Sunita’s busy schedule and other commitment. They have invited both artists to perform at the festival in the year 2009.
Minoti Khaund is an inspiration and her flawless performance is a silent but forceful message for all our upcoming violinist to follow.
PermalinkSubmitted by TLANG ROKHUMA on Wed, 16/07/2008 - 17:29
Dearest Sunita.
I am proud you. You are my Great Indian Musician idol. I also remember Film Festival in Mumbai in 2007, you are the guest there.
I hope one day your show will be in Mizoram.
Bye,
Mr.Rokhuma, Artist
Aizawl, Mizoram
PermalinkSubmitted by diana mavroleon on Thu, 17/07/2008 - 01:45
Hello Sunita,
Yes, this definitely conjures up the enthralled audience of the Nehru Centre that night of your concert; great that the pieces are listed also. The centre has become my 'University of lndia' and l am spreading the word amongst artists here in London, none of whom seem to know anything about it! l feel so lucky to have found it.
Best wishes to your Mother and to yourself and good luck with all the projects,
Diana x
******
PermalinkSubmitted by jul on Wed, 24/06/2009 - 08:16
hi ba,
how ru? i know, you stay here in powai, mumbai. longing to see you. wonder, if you would recognize me. m, pankaja (jul), sister of konkana(konki). we studied in LFS, dibrugarh. know you since than. i met your mom in my weddding last year (nov 23rd 2008, guwahati). infact, my husband abhineet(sanju) know your family very well. we both received the blessings from your grand mom, too. we stay in poonam nagar, mumbai. really look forward to meet you.
lots of love.
jul
Amarjyoti Kalita has been sent to jail after police produced the prime accused in the gory GS Road molestation incident before a lower court on Tuesday. Amarjyoti’s police custody ended on Monday. He was produced before the Kamrup CJM court on Tuesday where he was remanded to judicial custody. Notably, police got remand of Kalita after he was brought back to Guwahati from Vanarash where he surrendered.
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Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday faced slogan-shouting refugees at one of the three camps he visited this morning in Dhubri district, which had witnessed ethnic violence. Chidambaram, who left for Dhubri early in the morning from Guwahati in a special chopper and landed at the Panbari BSF camp, visited two other camps - Borkanda and Takimari. In Lakhiganj, the refugees shouted slogans against the administration and demanded that the government act fast to confiscate arms of the former Bodo Liberation Tiger militants. They also alleged that basic facilities like healthcare were inadequate in the camps. The Home Minister, who arrived in Guwahati, is on a two-day trip to the lower...
ULFA’s anti talk has claimed responsibility of the Goalpara the blast that killed an army jawan. In an email statement, assistant information and publicity secretary of the outfit said that the blast was carried out by its members. He also claimed that three Army personnel were killed and nine others injured in the attack.
An Army jawan was killed and six others were injured when a powerful IED exploded in Goalpara district on Tuesday. The blast took place near the Naranarayan Setu at Jugigupa at around 10.20 in the morning when an Army convoy was passing.
A vehicle in the convoy, which was on its way from Kokrajhar to Agia, was also blown off in the explosion. The injured jawans have been shifted to the Basistha Army Hospital in Guwahati.The blast exploded when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and senior BJP leader L K Advani are on a stock taking visit to the BTAD areas.
Normal life in Assam remains heavily disrupted following large scale power cuts after the regional grid tripped because of heavy load. It took place following the collapse of Northern and Eastern grids.
According to sources, there was heavy load and power frequency came down from the normal 49.9 per cent to 38.34 per cent leading to the collapse of the grid.
The collapse led to power cuts throughout the state. But the situation is likely to improve with additional power inputs from Samaguri, Kathalguri and Namrup Thermal Power Plants which has so far been unaffected by the grid failure.
BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Tuesday said took on Delhi nd Dispur alleging inaction in dealing with the influx problem that has resulted in the on going ethnic clash in BTAD areas. During his visit to the refugee camps in Dhurbri on Tuesday, he said that the situation has arisen mainly because of criminal delay in dealing with the situation.
Advani hoped that no other community is made a refugee in their own country like Kashmiri Pandits.He urged Prime Minister, the Congress president and Assam Chief Minister to introspect on how this situation arose.
BJP veteran L K Advani on Monday blamed border influx for the on going ethnic clash in BTASD areas. Advani, who is here on a two-day visit, said that its not a group clash. According to him, the problem arose due to large scale infiltration of illegal immigrants. He called distressing that in 2012 these kinds of things are happening. He said that if the situation was not taken care of in time it could deteriorate. His visit follows a fact-finding tour by a BJP team led by party's national general secretary Vijay Goel.
The government has shunted out Kokrajhar and Chirang deputy commissioners just before Union home minister arrived in the violence hit BTAD areas. Kokrajhar DC D Gilfilon and Chirang DC U N Bora have been moved out in the name of administrative reshuffle following the violence in the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts. Rastriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan Mission director Jayanta Narlekar has been named as the new DC of Kokrajhar. Commissioner of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Puru Gupta been named as the new DC of Chirang.
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