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Saikat Mitra

Bengalees loved Shyamal Mitra. From the '50s till the '70s he was probably the most popular male singer of Bengal besides Hemanta Mukherjee. Shyamal's voice had this wonderful romantic character and his songs, even after all these years, make one nostalgic. However, Saikat, his son, although does have a decent voice, decided to start his singing career by singing all his dad's songs in local concerts. This earned him money and many contracts, but unfortunately he couldn't establish his own identity. He managed to do some playback singing in the limited Bengali cinema and the TV. Salil used him on and off and did acknowledge once that Saikat is quite a good singer and needs good songs to prove himself. He recorded eight songs of Salil in a cassette released in 1990 by HMV. Some have been recorded before by other singers but there are some new compositions also. In one Doordarshan show he sang a Hindi version (Lyrics: Yogesh) of that beautiful Antara song 'Kono Bhaalo kobitaar'. Besides this he also sang in a Hindi TV Film/Serial called 'Charitraheen'.

ID	Song Title	Year	Cross-Ref / Variations
SK1	Taarpor jete jeteLyrics: Subhas Mukhopadhyay	1990	-
SK2	Aar kono kathaa naa priye	1990	Hnd: OB22
SK3	Aaro dure jete hawbe	1990	Bng: OS76
SK4	Puraano din puraano mon	1990	Bng: MS39
SK5	Aar kichhu nei balaar	1990	Mal: TB2 Bng: SC52
SK6	Jete hobe durer nishanaay	1990	-
SK7	Kotona kathaa chhilo	1990	-
SK8	Aar koto din	1990	Hnd: OS47 Mal: EG4

Musical Analysis & Observations

In 1990, as many as four albums of Salil were released. Unfortunately, we didn't get many new compositions from Salil that year; most were previously recorded by other singers or used in films. Fortunately, we got a rather rare and excellent composition in Saikat's album: "Taarpor jete jete", originally a poem written by Subhas Mukhopadhyay and set to music by Salil. The other delightful and interesting composition is "Koto naa kathaa chhilo bolbaar" with wonderful lyrics.

Saikat also performed the quite difficult song "Aar kichhu nei balaar" (Song #SK5) rather well. Although this song was originally recorded by Sabita Chowdhury, many feel that Saikat's version is superior due to the way he handles some very tricky notes and intervals within the composition. It remains a testament to Salil’s belief that Saikat had the technical ability to handle complex melodies when given the right material.