National award winner Jaatiswar singer Rupankar says despite being a new age artiste, more at ease with the facebook generation on stage, he will never get over the spell of printed books and audio cds and dislikes downloading.
"The educated Bengalee's love for good, content-rich books and music cannot be replaced by E-books and downloading. Personally I don't like downloading songs and always tell fans," Rupankar told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Pustak Parbon 2014' organized by 'Bangur Boi O Utsav Committee'.
"Printed words had cast a magical spell on me since childhood. We have grown up seeing the proliferation of book fairs in every nook and cranny of Bengal, from Kolkata to suburbs. And you will see musical performances in every book fair and a receptive audience. Book and music go hand in hand," Rupankar, a familiar playback voice in present day Bengali films from 'Dutta vs Dutta' to 'Khola Hawa' said.
Celebrated poet Nirendranath Chakroborty said with 395 book fairs organized across Bengal nowadays, bookfairs have become the "arekta parbon" (the 14th religious festival of the Bengalee) calendar where cd stalls and food courts are now existing alongwith printed titles running into thousands.
"It is in the fitness of things that a Tagore song like 'Praane Khusir.." Is being dished out with new musical arrangements and rendered in a different way but the spirit and soul are never tampered with. This is the true story of Bengal, modernity rooted in tradition like love for books," the veteran poet said.
Writer Sanjib Chattopadhyay equated printed hard boundbooks with bricks drawing parallels between the building of one's mindscape and an edifice
In the first for a suburban book fair, the Pustak Parbon did have the presence of British Council where international delegates will be conducting workshops and a premier journalism school having bases in UK and Australia reaching out to aspiring candidates in fields of journalism and public relations.
