George Elliott Clarke and Subrata Kumar Das present Anglo/Bangla Canadian Canticles poetry and song event this Saturday
East Toronto’s George Elliott Clarke and Subrata Kumar Das are teaming up to present 5 Poets Breaking Into Song, an Anglo/Bangla Canadian Canticles, this Saturday night.
The presentation takes place at the Canadian Music Centre, 20 St. Joseph St. in the Yonge and Wellesley streets area, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Poets taking part are Ayesha Chatterjee, Louise Bernice Halfe, Giovanna Riccio, Clarke and Das. The presentation will also feature composers, translators, a pianist and singers.
An Upper Beach resident, Clarke is an author, professor, poet and musician who has been showcasing poetry and music with the 5 Poets Breaking Into Song shows since 2021. This Saturday night’s performance will mark the 22nd presentation of the show.
Clarke served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and was also the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate from 2016 to 2017.
East York resident Das is a well-known author and translator in the Canadian Bengali community.
Das said he is looking forward to Saturday’s night’s presentation and the celebration of poetry and some of the city’s Bengali artists.
“This poetry-and-song expose will be free as usual, but also unusual,” he told Beach Metro Community News.
“Half of the 10 poems and songs – in this literary songbook – feature my mother tongue, Bangla. The Bengali community of East York and Scarborough is very vibrant, and Bangla has posed as a principal language of East Toronto,” said Das. “Moreover, we, the local Bengali writers, have been keen to celebrate CanLit (Canadian Literature) and its diverse writers for over a decade. George is one of these writers who has welcomed our enthusiasm.”
The poems/songs on Saturday will be presented in English and/or Bangla.
“Asked to recommend a Bengali composer for this program, I proposed the esteemed Pallavi Mozumder from Saskatoon,” said Das. “She has scored nine poems, while Guggenheim-winner James Rolfe has scored one. All songs will be introduced by a reading of the original poem in English and/or Bangla, but all will be performed by the renowned Ontario Bengali singers Shamit Barua and his daughter Shreya. Pianist Tomson Hon will accompany the vocalists.”
Admission to 5 Poets Breaking Into Song, an Anglo/Bangla Canadian Canticles is free, but pre-registration is required.
