CELEBRATING LIFE CELEBRATED!
For the better half of a decade, Celebrating Life has been acting as a massive platform for creative expression across the country. With each passing year, this event keeps getting bigger and more diverse in terms of magnitude, themes and regional concerts/ exhibitions. This year's theme was “Living In Harmony” on which all entries of the contest were based.
What better way to start winter than another wonderful celebration of talent across the country? Yes that's right. Celebrating Life's Grand Gala Event 2014, by The Daily Star and Standard Chartered Bank, was held on the 22nd of November at Osmani Memorial Auditorium. The prestigious event was held to commemorate the winners of this year's contests'.
The event started off with a recitation from the Holy Quran, followed by a song presentation based on the winning lyrics from the lyrics segment of Celebrating Life, sung by acclaimed actor and singer Shampa Reza. After that, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam, gave a welcoming address to all members present at the event in which he stated, even though Bangladesh has her fare share of problems, she manages to overcome them with her achievements through her culture. The welcome address was followed with a documentary on this year's lifetime achievement winners Sheikh Sadi Khan (Lyrics), Sayeeda Khanum (Photography) and Rani Sarkar (Film), who were later handed their respective awards.
In the event's next segment, photography contest winners, Pankaj Sikder (1st palce), Noor Ahmed Gelal (2nd Place) and Shaikh Mohir Uddin (3rd Place) were handed their crests and certificates, along with the lyrics contest winners, Sipra Goswami (1st Place), Tapan Bagchi (2nd Place) and Quazi Afzal Hossain (3rd Place). Honourable mention awards were handed out as well. Immediately after, Asaduzzaman Noor took the microphone and humorously said, since he's gotten to where he is by being a proxy, he wasn't surprised when he was asked to proxy for the president tonight.
Standard Chartered bank's CEO, Jim McCabe delivered a speech in which he thanked the contestants, The Daily Star and festival director Rafi Hossain. As a closing treat for the winners and audiences, Tasher Desh, a dance-drama produced by Shadhona, was performed. The musical is based on one of Tagore's most famous dance operas that was influenced by Western opera.
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