She remembered Ishwar Ballav, Narayan Gopal and Aruna Lama who had all been part of her six decades of musical journey.[break]
The event took place at ‘r’ sala located in Kalikasthan last Friday.
“Ishwar Ballav is a great poet from Kathmandu. I’m glad to be performing his poetry-based cantata for the first time on the poet’s soil,” said the composer after two minutes of applause that erupted as soon as the 20-minute cantata based on Ballav’s poem “Euta Nilo Suryast” (A Blue Sunset) ended.
The composition included poetry recitation in between as well. The recitation was executed by singer Robin Sharma.
Thatal also dedicated her song “‘Udijaun bhane ma panchhi hoina” to the late singer Aruna Lama who recorded the song for the film “Paralko Aago,” based on the epochal short story of Guru Prasad Mainali, for which Thatal had provided the music. The late Indra Thapalia of Darjeeling had written the lyrics of the song.
Thatal’s mesmerizing performance as well as the collective and individual performances of singers Sangeeta Pradhan, Aavaas, Suraj, Meena, and Robin Sharma kept the audience engaged till 9 pm at nepa~laya’s ‘r’ sala.
Paleti’s September edition will feature Pawan Golay, another Darjeeling-based singer known for his hit, “Hawasanga bahu bhanchha.”