City caught by classical spell
On the stroke of midnight when the whole city went to sleep, a stadium full of people remained wide awake, watching the awe-inspiring performance of a Bharatanatyam artist. Vidushi Malavika Sarukkai left more than tens of thousands of audience dazzled with her poise, grace and fluid movements on the opening night of the Bengal Classical Music Festival 2014 Bangladesh at the Army Stadium.
With Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan's sitar recital and Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty's jugalbandi with slide guitar genius Debashish Bhattacharya still to come in the night, the audience had plenty to look forward to as of writing this report at 12:30am.
Hailed as the world's biggest classical music festival, the festival stepped into its third year yesterday evening.
Unlike previous years, the festival opened this year with the welcome sounds of Bangladesh as 40 eminent Bangladeshi singers sang in chorus the national anthem, followed by Dhono Dhanye Pushpe Bhora and O Bhai Khati Shona'r Cheye Khati. The three songs were intended to pay tribute to three of the biggest icons of Bengali music -- Rabindranath Tagore, DL Roy and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
The official inauguration of the festival had Finance Minister AMA Muhith as the chief guest, alongside special guest Pankaj Saran – the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, Square Group Chairman Anjan Chowdhury, Brac Bank CEO Syed Mahbubur Rahman and Bengal Foundation Chairman Abul Khair Litu.
In his welcome address, Litu said the festival was a realisation of a long-cherished dream to nurture Bangladeshi artistes to reach the level of the top maestros in the world.
The finance minister in his address said: "Music is more a matter of feeling than understanding, and the great response of the people of Bangladesh showed that they felt music very deeply."
The first solo performance of the night was given by talented young tabla artiste Ajinkya Joshi, whose teental layas on Raga Charukeshi created the perfect ambience and warmed up the audience as the evening wore on.
Rajrupa Chowdhury's sarod presentation of the meditative Raga Malkauns followed Malavika Sarukkai's performance, with the talented Ruchira Kedar's vocal performance scheduled next.
The grandiose festival, extended this year to five days, will see some of the all-time greats of Eastern classical music and dance – including Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Vidushi Kishori Amonkar – perform in sessions every day from dusk till dawn.
Organised by Bengal Foundation and presented by Square Group, the festival is being supported by Brac Bank, with The Daily Star and The Daily Prothom Alo as strategic partners, and Maasranga TV as broadcast partner.
The audience comprised of seasoned classical music admirers as well as first-timers. Talking to The Daily Star, a group of friends shared their varied experiences. Tasnia Rahman, a private service holder who came to the festival for the first time, said she was overwhelmed by the grandiose event while Nuzhat Nueri Islam, an ardent fan of classical music who attended the previous two editions of the festival, said she was looking forward to reliving those unforgettable nights. Zamira Razdan, a recent graduate was at the event for the second time, and admitted she was exploring classical music and dance more closely than last year.
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