Tuesday, July 8, 2008

2008 Toronto Banga Sammelan - A weekend well-spent

A day has gone by and we are still suffering from the pleasant hangover. The very colorful closing ceremony, choreographed brilliantly by Kalyan Sen Barat and Calcutta Choir and local Toronto troupe, brought the curtains down to a very enjoyable weekend getaway in Toronto. Bengali arts, adda and cuisine competed with the usual festivities that surround the adjacent CN Tower (where, by the way, we spent our hangover day), except that when it came to having a time limit to enjoyment, the Banga Sammelan organizers indulged us into the wee hours of morning every day. If Aneek Dhar finished into the early hours of Saturday, Ustad Ali Ahmad's Shehnai took us into Sunday and Kumar Sanu finished just before Sunday midnight - that too only because the convention center was booked only till then.


We had great fun before the event when we brought to you the Countdown to Banga Sammelan podcast and the enjoyment doubled when we were able to meet many of our listeners in person. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Banga Sammelan with us. Silicon Valley beckons us for the 2009 Sammelan - we will have a wrap-up episode available in a few weeks about Toronto and San Francisco Banga Sammelan. But in the meanwhile lets keep the discussion ongoing.


How was this year's Banga Sammelan for you? What were your favorite moments? Do you have a message for the organizers? We would love to have your comments to this post.


Cheers
Piya and Deb