South Asia Institute is excited to host Ochin Pakhi to celebrate the release of their latest album Praner Alap: Meeting of Hearts on Innova Recordings. A breathtaking artistic collaboration, the album features innovative musical arrangements of songs from the Nobel Prize-winning poetry collection Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore.

Published in 1910, Gitanjali was Tagore's groundbreaking collection of Bengali poetry that largely contained lyrics of songs he had composed. Tagore’s English translation of Gitanjali gained popularity in the West and won him a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, but the melodies of the songs remained unknown to Western audiences. Praner Alap brings these musical works to life for contemporary listeners through innovative cross-cultural arrangements.

The album is the latest release from Chicago Folklore Ensemble, the group, established in 2015 to celebrate immigrant communities through interdisciplinary performances interweaving music and storytelling.