My songs my music

‘Roddoor’ : A Bengali Band that Will Make You Proud

It all started on a foggy evening in late November 2008. A group of young Bengalis got together and worked out a musical way of getting some sunshine in the UK. They formed a band that would break all barriers of race, language, and colour and named it ‘Roddoor’, which literally means ‘Sunshine’ in Bengali.
The idea of forming a band surprisingly came from the networking site ‘Orkut’, at the ‘Bengalis in UK’ community. Many people showed interest to get together: some said they could sing, others said they could play instruments, and some others offered to lend their instruments to the band. After a lot of discussions it was decided that the first meeting would take place at Dr. Ritwik Raychaudhuri’s residence in Manchester. A bundle of songs were discussed and it was resolved that we would cover different genres, starting from old Hindi and Bengali classics to modern ‘Jibonmukhi’ and band songs, to popular English songs. Dr. Samarnath Sen happily designed a website for the band on the spot.
‘Roddoor Kids’ section was formed to encourage children of the members to take part in performances. This is a conscious effort to bring second-generation Indians in the UK together through exposure to their cultural and musical roots.
Another interesting point is that Dr Debashis Roy has been presenting quite a few Jibonmukhi songs which he himself, along with a friend composed when they were medical students back in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s. These were possibly the first Jibonmukhi songs composed in West Bengal. Among these, the most admired have been ‘M.B.B.S.’ and ‘Biyer Gaan’ which have become immensely popular due to their comical libretto.
‘Roddoor’ has been privileged to sing at various venues all across the UK, the most prestigious being Rudolf Steiner Hall in London. The Bengali community in UK has welcomed Roddoor with outstretched arms: two performances in Reading in the same month, London, Manchester, Walsall are but a few places to mention. We are looking forward to performing at the London Mayor’s Diwali celebrations on Trafalgar Square and at famed Durga Pujas in England.
The present ‘Roddoor’ has moved from Orkut as we have had new members joining us. Quite a few members of the group are doctors and they have led it with unrivalled enthusiasm. The background of our members is as follows:
Dr Ritwik Raychaudhuri: Consultant in Medicine, based in Manchester – Creative head, lead male vocalist and keyboard player
Mrs Nilanjana Raychoudhury: GP, also based in Manchester- Compere
Dr Samarnath Sen: Registrar in Paediatrics, based in Lancashire – Manager of the audio-visual side and website designer
Mrs Kamalika Sen: Lecturer in English Language, also based in Lancashire – Vocalist, in charge of PR section and Roddoor Kids section
Dr Sumanta Gupta: Consultant in Psychiatry, based in Manchester – Vocalist and stage manager, takes care of PR with Kamalika
Mrs Nilanjana Chatterjee: Operations Manager at Mothercare UK Ltd., lives in London - Vocalist and newest member
Mrs Sumita Maitra: Homemaker and ‘Boudi’ to all of us, lives in Liverpool and has a very sweet voice – Vocalist
Mrs Sharmila Gupta: Works in IT, also from Manchester, sound manager and advisor
Dr Debashis Roy: Consultant in Medicine, lives in Coventry – in charge of drum section
Dr Emily Allcock: GP trainee, resides in Manchester - guitarist
Mr Tapas Haldar: Senior employee with Network Rail, from Manchester – advisor and presenter of ‘Shruti Natok’ (Vocal plays), jointly with his wife Mrs Alo Halder
With your love and blessings we hope to bring music to more and more hearts. Please visit our website at www.roddoor.co.uk and show your support by signing the guestbook.

With best wishes from
Kamalika Sen
(PR- ‘Roddoor’)