Three-day cultural fest by Sandipon

A three-day cultural festival held at Town Hall premises here concluded on January 7.
Sandipon Sangskritik Sangstha, a leading cultural troupe of the town, organised the festival marking the 60th birth anniversary of Motahar Hossain, founder of the organisation. Motahar Hossain died on April 1 in 2007.
The three-day programme included discussion on life and works of the late cultural personality, rendition of songs and dance performances by artistes of different organisations, honouring cultural personalities and giving away prizes among winners of different competitions on music, poetry recitation, painting and handwriting.
More than 300 children from different educational institutes of the town participated in the competitions in four groups. Motahar Hossain Smriti Sangskritik Academy organised the competitions.
Ustad Shahabuddin Khan, Jafar Ahmed, Bijon Topdar, Prodip Chakrabarty, Shawkat Ali Manik, Abdul Mazid Chowdhury, Qaimul Haque and Swapon Kumar Sarker were the judges of the competitions.
On the occasion, Ensemble Theatre staged the play “Court Marshal”, while Sareng Theatre staged “Atula Sundari”, based on a story from “Mymensingh Geetika”.
The lifetime achievement award was conferred on Ustad Sunil Kumar Dhar and Golam Rafiq for their contributions to music and theatre, respectively. Motahar Hossain Smriti Padak was given to veteran freedom fighter Salam Uddin Khan and Abdul Nayeem (posthumous).
Mayor of Mymensingh municipality, Ekramul Haque Titu, inaugurated the festival as chief guest on January 5 afternoon. Among others, veteran freedom fighters -- Nazim Uddin Ahmed, Dr. Ashu Ranjan Saha; convener of the festival, Ziauddin Ahmed, spoke at the inaugural session. RKM Nazim-ud-Daula presided over the opening.
Mahbub Hossain Sharif, secretary of Sandipon delivered the welcome speech.
Zila Parishad administrator, Advocate Johirul Haque Khoka; chairman of Sadar Upazila Parishad, Fayzur Rahman Fakir; cultural personality Shahadat Hossain Khan Hilu and poet Jahangir Firoz took part in the discussions during the festival.
Terming Motahar Hossain “a pioneer”, for his many creative ideas, the speakers said that he enriched the cultural arena of the region through his work.