Banga Sammelan—also known as North American Bangali Conference- NABC, is a conference held in North America to showcase Bengali culture. The conference set off its journey back in 1981 and since then it has become an annual event of Cultural Association of Bengal. Prominent artistes Ferdous Ara and Laisa Ahmed Lisa went to USA to attend the conference in June. This year's conference was a milestone, as it took place at the historic Madison Square Garden Theater, Manhattan in New York. The enthused artistes shared their experience in conversation with the Daily Star:

How do you view Banga Sammelan?

Ferdous: The feeling is just amazing.  I was very proud to perform on a platform like Banga Sammelan and that too by presenting our National Poet and his songs. This is not the first time that I have performed at Banga Sammelan but I would like to highlight this year's event as I had the opportunity to perform at the prestigious Madison Square Garden Theater.

Laisa: This year's Banga Sammelan was definitely one the best in terms of venue as well as the performances. One extraordinary moment was the chance to perform a group number; it was named “Sangeeter Jatra” (The Journey of Music) and was basically about the journey of Bangla music. In the performance all of us had to sing at least a portion of a song while the history of music was described by Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee. This initiative was a cherry on the top of this year's Banga Sammelan.

Laisa Ahmed Lisa

Which songs did you perform at Banga Sammelan?

Ferdous: I tried to maintain variations such as kabya geeti, semi-classical, shayma sangeet, folk, jhumur and kirtan. Some of the songs were “Amaye nohe go”, “Kuhu kuhu koyeliya”, “Bhuli kemone”, “Aye ma Uma” and a few more.

Laisa:  I performed nine songs, among them “Puja parjaye “and “Barsha” were a part of it.  I started my performance with “Aj Jemon korey gaichhey akash”, “Je ratey mor duarguli”, “Jodi prem dile na prane”, “Kal rater bela” and ended with “Boro bedonar moto”

What was the audience reaction like?

Ferdous: Every performance of Banga Sammelan was remarkable and I was gratified by how listeners welcomed our performance. One listener said we were able to touch their hearts, and that for me was the compliment of the day.

Laisa: Just like last year, I received a standing ovation from the listeners and it was a moment to recall. Plus the listeners were discerning though most of the listeners were Bengalis from West Bengal rather than Bangladeshi listeners because of Ramadan.