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Houston, Texas A News Letter from Surangan Music School – Houston, TX

Surangan’s mission is to create, teach and encourage Bengali Music to our new generation, who are born and brought up in USA. Surangan also aims to nurture our Bengali Cultural heritage by participating in various cultural programs and workshops.

We train ‘Vocal Music’ through classes every weekend.

We also provide the facility of attending online one-on-one music classes through Skype for students who are interested in distant learning.

A Message From

We Lost

Mr. Kaderi Kibria I am extremely pleased to

know

through

that

her

Rupa

Surangan

music school is playing a pivotal role in spreading bengali music especially Rabindra Sangeet in the greater Houston area. I

Dr. Rob

Dr. Hannan

extremely

Suranran Family lost two of our great Cultural

Enthusiastic,

Well-wishers

and Community Leaders Dr. Abdul Hannan

Khan

know from my own experience that it is an

and

Dr.

Mohammad

Abdur Rob. Sorry-----Hearty our pray to God for your soul in peace and heaven --

difficult

endeavor.

Teaching

Bengali music to those who are born and brought up in America is a herculean task.

Rupa’s

love

for

Bengali

music

especially

Rabindra Sangeet has given her the strength to take this challenge. years

ego,

today

it

Started humbly eight is

one

of

the

most

prominent Rabibdra Sangeet learning center.

It shows that Rupa has successfully tackled many hurdles through her dedication and hard work and is on a right track to achieve her

goal

of

spreading

Bengali

music

in

Houston.

I wish her all the very best and my blessing will always be with her students.

Signature/ Kaderi Kibria

Vol: 04, Page: 01, December, 2018

Surangan Appreciation Day-2018 Surangan Music School, celebrated its annual program at the HDBS Sur Auditorium the evening of August 12th 2018. After months of rigorous rehearsals, students got to showcase their talent on a platform which boosted their confidence and brought the Surangan family closer. Kudos to the energetic melodious,

talented teacher, and founder Rupa Ghosh in accomplishing the herculean task of training the young talents, most of who are born and brought up in the US. The program was inaugurated with the lamp lighting ceremony by community leaders, Dr. Hannan Khan, President of the Bangladesh American Society of Greater Houston; Shah M Haleem, President of the Bangladesh Association of Houston, Mr. Sujit Sengupta, Vice President of the Houston Durgabari Society and Debleena Banerji, President of the Tagore Society of Houston.

Emcee Mila Sengupta, welcomed the audience with a brief introduction of the school. The first half of the program was titled, “Aalor Anandaloke Panchakabi� signifying the message of enlightenment through the propagation of happiness by the 5 stalwart poets of Bengal, namely Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dwijendralal Ray, Rajanikanta Sen and Atulprasad Sen. The script-based compact program was narrated by renowned violinist Biplab Samadder, who with his smooth, soothing, and

baritone voice touched the soul of the audience. Solo and group songs were interspersed with solo and group dances. The tabla accompaniment was provided by

Vol: 04, Page: 02, December, 2018

Houston’s tabla wizard Raja Banga, and also Niranjan Roy. Barun Choudhury and Vikram Banga provided percussion accompaniment.

Biplab Samadder and Bidyut Ghosh provided accompaniment on violin and mandira respectively. The dancers ranged from considerably young artistes to more mature, skilled ones, and brought some color and life to the music program. Rupa, with the help of her ever accommodating husband Pradip Ghosh was successful in putting together this

program with the large contingent of 92 participants.

What makes Rupa’s students very special is that, not only are their pronunciation of the Bengali lyrics impeccable, they also play the harmonium while singing. Group and solo dances were choreographed by Supradipta Datta (Director of ‘Kalaangan’, School of Odissi), Silvia Faruque and Shown Sarkar, and were performed very beautifully by Polin, Nusaiba, Tithi, Shanta, Shown, Shinjini, Ananya, Sanchali, and a number of other youngsters.

renowned exponent of Rabindra Sangeet and a recipient of Ekushey Padak award by the Bangladesh Government - Mr. Kaderi Kibria.

He was felicitated with a plaque and “uttoriyo”

by Surangan Music School.

He was also invited to award certificates to the students of the school and participants, namely Puspita, Tithi, Purnota, Smita, Gronthi, Herah, Nusaiba, Prionti, Faiad, Seeryn, Tinni, Shyon, Nikita, Sharoni, Abhisri, Avinanda, Faria, Polin, Adi, Josh, Roksana, Anushree, Zariya, Nubaid, Arpan, Rasmiya, Purnata, Snowwver, Ummul, Raya, Binita, Ankit, Akash, Puja, and others.

Finally Kaderi Kibria took the stage and Rupa

This year’s annual program was made special by the presence of Bangladesh’s pride,

Vol: 04, Page: 03, December, 2018

accompanied him in some of the songs. He enthralled the audience with his fantastic rendition of Tagore songs. While some of the

songs were common, many of them are rarely heard. He spiced up the musical performance with tidbits of anecdotes related to some of his songs. He also sang some “Harano Diner Gaan� (old Bengali songs). Rupa ended the program with a vote of thanks to all participants.

beat of the Dhak and the blowing of the shankh early in the morning, creating a divine atmosphere. Mother Durga was decorated in festive splendor and Mother was ready to welcome and bless all her devotees. Swami Kripamayananda, head of the Toronto Vedanta Society conduct the puja, Dr. Amrit Achari,

assisted with the Chandipath, and Buddhadeb from Toronto assisted in conducting the puja also.

The puja commenced on time at 9:30 AM with great austerity and devotion. The melodious devotional songs sung by the VSGH choir

Rupa along with her Surangan students and friends deserve high accolades for presenting yet another excellent program showcasing the

made the environment reverberate with divinity. The puja ended with the beautiful arati performed by the Swami with the chandelier lamp, and pushpanjali, the offering of flowers, by devotees. Mother Durga seemed to have control over Mother Nature too, as the

gems of Bengali cultural creativity. The journey that she has undertaken will no doubt carry forward the torch of Bengali cultural heritage among the newer generations so far away from their place of origin.

VSGH Celebrates Durga Puja 2018 Vedanta Society of Greater Houston (VSGH) celebrated Durga Puja on October 13, 2018 at their center. Nabapatrika and the idol of Mother Durga were carried to the nicely decorated pandal outdoors to the auspicious Vol: 04, Page: 04, December, 2018

weather remained very pleasant throughout the day for the devotees. A record crowd of people attended the VSGH Durga Puja this year. Devotees were all enjoying the spiritual ambience. Fruit & lunch prasad were served in the adjacent tent to all attendees.

Houston Durga Bari Hosts Durga Puja Houston’s Durga Bari’s Durga Puja was again celebrated with tradition grandeur over eight days- Oct 14-21, 2018. The Puja was conducted by the dedicated volunteer priests

over four days led by the Head priest Buddhadeb Bhattachariya. All rituals were followed from Bodhon to Bishorjan, from Hom to Chandi path to 108 lotuses during Sandhi

rocking the Houston crowd.

Talented local artists including gifted secondgeneration kids and adults, performed admirably on stage too. Volunteers cooked delicious food from lunches to bhog to snacks to dinner and served a gourmet food experience. Tutored by the elders, dhaaks (drums) were played by second-generation

children, for every arati and bishorjan. For bishorjan, the Kala Bau and the pitchers were taken three times around the temple in a procession and then, immersed in the lake.

The leaders of Houston Durga Bari society, Puja committee and a group of dedicated volunteers organized a great Puja, which the community loved dearly. The coordination and team work and many new faces stepping up to take active roles in the organization show that Durga Bari is in good hands.

Kali Puja at Vedanta Society Vedanta Society of Greater Houston (VSGH) takes pride in celebrating Kali Puja every year with immense piety, dedication and sincerity.

Swami Nirakarananda of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis presided over the event this year.

He performed the Puja with the assistance of

Puja. The entire complex became a fun-filled festival-the milieu of people milling around with mikes blaring. The Pujas brought together young and old-from second-generation kids and adults to senior citizens. Houston’s stage saw a powerful lineup of famous artists

our resident Swami Atmarupananda, the evening of November 6, 2018. The puja commenced with the auspicious blowing of the Vol: 04, Page: 05, December, 2018

shankh (conch shell) creating a divine atmosphere. The entire northern part of India worships goddess Lakshmi on Deepavali,

symbolizing the spiritual “victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance”, the east of India celebrates Kali Puja, to seek the help of the goddess in destroying evil, both external and internal and get her blessings for general happiness, health, wealth, and peace. The puja ended with the beautiful arati performed by the Swami with the chandelier lamp. Pushpanjali, the offering of flowers by devotees, was led by Swami Atmarupananda. The melodious devotional songs sung by Rupa Ghosh in accompaniment

to the puja, made the environment reverberate with divinity. Swami Nirakarananda also sang songs dedicated to Mother Kali. Prasad was served to the attendees and all enjoyed the evening’s proceedings.

Tagore Society’s Annual Day 2018 Tagore society of Houston’s Annual day and GBM held on Sunday, November 18th, 2018 at

HDBS Sur Auditorium. TSH president, Debleena Banerjee welcomed all the attendees and updated the financial status, mission and

next year goals of the society. They arranged a special session with cultural sharing from the participants. Renowned tagore singer Shreya Guhathakurata was the chief guest in this program. Snacks were served to the attendees and all enjoyed the program.

HDBS Celebrated Pran Pratistha Divas Houston Durga Bari is the beacon of the Hindu community in Houston which was established on December 2001. The temple is dedicated to Maa Durga, the Goddess of Power.

HDBS celebrated the temple foundation day, called ‘Pran Pratistha Divas’, on December 05, 2018. A special puja was organized by the HDBS. Puja was conducted

by the head priest Buddhadeb Bhattachariya.

The devotees were sung some prayer songs after the puja. A crowd of people attended and celebrated the Pran Pratistha Divas-2018.

Fruit and lunch prasad were served to all attendees.

Prana School of Music’s Annual Event Prana School of Music and Arts (PSMA) presented its Annual Event on December 10, 2018 in the Sur Auditorium of Houston Durgabari Society. Music and percussion

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ensembles were highlights of repertoire. With students and Gurus sharing the same stage it was a very enjoyable evening for the music appreciative Houston audience. In this program couple of local artists also participated. Eleven years ago renowned table

Houston (BASGH) and Bangladesh Association of Houston (BAH) jointly arranged a program to celebrate the nation's glorious victory. They organized a vibrant cultural program including recitation and natok to tribute their heroes who laid down their lives and made supreme sacrifices to establish a new countryBangladesh. A crowd of people attended the Victory program in this year.

wizard Raja Banga and his wife Debleena Benerji, inaugurated PSMA with an aim to spread music and fine arts in greater Houston area. The school today is highly popular with young and adults for table lessons.

Bijoy Dibosh Celebrated in Houston The Bangladeshi nation celebrated the 48th Victory Day, marking the moment the country was liberated from the Pakistani occupation forces after a nine-month-long bloodstained war for liberation. Forty-seven years ago on December 16 1971, Bangladesh was born as

an independent country under the leadership of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, after the sacrifice of the lives of three million people and the honor

Rupa Ghosh, Director, Surangan Music School-Houston 17714 Strolling Stream Ln, Richmond, TX 77407

of nearly half a million women. In Houston, Bangladesh American Society of Greater

Phone: 832.704.8867; 832.274.6823 Email: surangan2010@yahoo.com Website: www.surangan.org Vol: 04, Page: 07, December, 2018