::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Event

Food for the Soul

Elita Karim

Kaiser Haq recites poems in sub-continental English.

It was an unconventional setting at Kozmo Lounge, one of the most talked about cafes in Dhaka today. Popular for the live weekend showcases of musicians both established and upcoming in Bangladesh, Kozmo has recently begun weekly sessions of poetry recitations and exchanges of ideas between writers, poets and the audience. In fact, Kozmo even plans to have comedians hit the stage once in a while, says Arif Hafiz, the CEO of Kozmo.

Since March of this year, the weekends have been filled with people from all over the city, watching and listening to musicians performing live at the Kozmo A-live shows. Eminent names in the music scene like Sumon of Aurhothin, the fusion duo Ornob and Andrew, the young band Yaatri and many more.

It was probably a treat for the usual Kozmo crowd and customers when Arif Hafiz came up with the idea of Kozmo A-maze sessions introducing new writers and poets along with the established names in the country. The first A-maze took place on October 23, where writer Abeer Haque of The Lovers and the Leavers started off by reading from her recent creations. Famous name in the realms of literature and poetry in Bangladesh, Professor Kaiser Haq recited poems in sub-continental English followed by a presentation of short films for the crowd.

Nafeez Al-Amin, a young and aspiring musician in one of the musical sessions at Kozmo Lounge.

A 10-minute film called Spider by Nash Edgerton (Australia), Happy Birthday, a 2-minute French film by Lin Dao and a 30-second promo of the feature film Out of the Box directed by Oniket Alam ended the first A-maze session. "It was shown by Future Shorts," says Oniket Alam, the curator of Future Shorts Bangladesh chapter. "Future Shorts is the world's largest short film network. I got involved here back in film school in the United Kingdom. We want to show short films in unconventional settings like cafes, clubs, even open spaces. This makes watching films more like a social experience rather than just a personal experience. Kozmo A-maze was a perfect setting for us."

In the evening of November 3, the 2nd Bangladeshi Bloggers Meet will take place at Kozmo, where the aim is to exchange experience and expertise between Bangladeshi bloggers. Hafiz says that there are many famous writers in the blogging world and happen to make a lot of difference to the society all the way from cyber space. In this session, these writers will get together and talk about who they are, why and how they began their blogs, their aims and the difference that they plan to make in the country and also to themselves through blogging.

For those who have been ever complaining regarding the lack of entertainment and recreational facilities in the city, Kozmo has introduced not only a place for both the youngsters and the senior citizens to hang out and stimulate a flow of ideas and expressions, it has also created a platform for artists to perform and showcase their talent to a select crowd.