Boi Mela soaked in Ekushey spirit

A visitor holds aloft a child to save her from the rush at the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela in the capital on the International Mother Language Day yesterday.Photo: STAR

The International Mother Language Day, inspiration of Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, lifted the spirit and festive mood to its peak among the crowd at the fair yesterday.
It was the day dedicated to the language martyrs. Mostly clad in black and white or grey, thousands of people were seen paying tribute at the Central Shaheed Minar and with Bangla letters painted on their faces. The publishers' sale expectation was sky-high.
People of all ages waited in long queues to enter the fair. The road outside the Mela premises had a festive look with huge gathering of people and display of vivid colours.
Inside, the people were gathering in stalls either to browse the titles or buy. Cultural programmes held in the fair compound added colour to the festivity.
However, there was a lack of quality books on music in the fair.
“I bought some books on music but none of these contain theoretical analysis. There is a lack of academic education on music or musicology. A great reason for this is the absence of analytical books on music in our country while music itself is an international language,” said Sayem Rana, a music expert.
“There are lots of good books on music in the international arena but these are not quite available or being translated,” said Rana.
“I have been coming to the fair every day but I found almost no standard books on music other than those published by the Nazrul Academy,” said Bibekananda Das, a singer and music expert.
“There are many maestros in our country but they shy away from publicity. The publishers should approach and encourage them to write good books on music,” said Bibek.
It was the beginning of the last week of Amar Ekushey Boi Mela. So there was a rush among the young writers for publishing their new books. They were massing at the media centres to announce their upcoming titles.
The new books published in the last few weeks include Ek Chokkhu Rakkhosh by Maruf Rehman, Ka-Mohila by Rashid Jamil, Rough Khata by Dhrubo Esh, Urbashi Shaaj by Mosharraf Khan, Duronto Pakhi (collection of poetry) by Prashanta Kumar Saha, Kathbirali Crossfire by Sontosh Barua, Jontronar Prokhor Rodey by Sonia Sayem.