Prachyanat’s Musical Ensemble to go to Nepal

Prachyanat members perform at Mukto Mancho, Jahangirnagar University.Photo: Mumit M.

Prachyanat's much-acclaimed 'Musical Ensemble' is going to be staged in Kathmandu, Nepal. Titled "Phul, Phaki O Nodi'r Gaan" (Music of the flowers, birds and rivers) for the show, the ensemble will be staged on July 26 at the HRSIN Nepal Academy Hall.
Distinguished guests will attend the event organised by the Bangladeshi Ambassador to Nepal, Imtiaz Ahmed. A ten-member Prachyanat troupe will leave Dhaka on July 24 for the five-day tour.
"It is an honour for Prachyanat to represent Bangladesh overseas," said musician Rahul Anand, one of the key members of the ensemble. Anand is the conductor and one of the vocalists of the ensemble, and usually plays bamboo flute and dotara.
Among others, the troupe will include Shakhawat Hossain Rezvi (lead vocals), Sanjida Shaheed (vocals and tara), Saiful Islam (percussion and vocals) and Kanak Aditya (dotara and vocals).
Anand informed that apart from the songs the ensemble performs usually, such as the Shah Abdul Karim number "Jhilmil jhilmil" or his own composition "Gulabi gulabi," the musical would feature a couple of new compositions at the upcoming show in Kathmandu.
The 'Musical Ensemble' was first staged in 2001, featuring a range of folk genres -- incorporated in their true styles -- of Bangladesh as well as Bakura, Nodia and Purulia of West Bengal. The songs were successfully featured in some of the troupe's popular productions such as "Koinya," "Circus Circus" and "A Man for All Seasons."
According to Prachyanat members, music is synonymous to the troupe's theatre activism, yet the ensemble is not a rigid practice or a fixed arrangement as the featured members in the ensemble are mainly theatre activists and not professional musicians. Casual humming at get-togethers of friends or regular adda prior to rehearsals for new plays paved the way to form the ensemble.