Singer Shaan releases song on Kolkata rape victim: Wanted to give hope to the movement, inspire women who are all Durgas
Singer Shaan comes up with a song dedicated to the Kolkata rape victim and women fighting for justice; says Durga Puja celebration will be low-key this year.
As a Bengali, Durga Puja is special to singer Shaan. In fact, he comes up with a song every year to mark the festivity. But this time around, he’s composed and sung a single, Durgatinashini, which is dedicated to the Kolkata rape and murder case, where a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered last month at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. “The heinous incident, the angst of the common people, and so many doctors and students, specially women, taking the movement forward have impacted me strongly. While I feel their frustration and hopelessness, I also applaud the people who have relentlessly taken to this call for justice. This song was my way to give hope and reassurance that only Maa Durga invokes, to give solidarity to the movement and to the women, each of who is Durga in courage and righteousness - a Durgatinashini,” says Shaan.
Sharing how this song worked out, the singer says that while he usually sings tracks about the joyous celebrations, this time around he “knew that’s not the present sentiment in West Bengal”. He adds, “I reached out to my friend, Rajib Chakraborty, who is a legendary poet-lyricist and told him what I had in mind. He wrote the song in three hours. The poetry had an uneven metre and I found it very unconventional to compose. But as I kept humming the lines without planning a structure, everything fell in place. I immediately composed and sang it, and the song was ready in three days.”
Shaan adds that he won’t be “doing any commercial stage show for Durga Puja” this year and would spend time with his family. Sharing that he wanted his music to impact people, specially women, he adds, “As musicians, it’s our responsibility to spread a positive message through our music. Durga Maa inspired me to come up with this one.”