Being with music

It is more than two and half years that Bengal Foundation has been working hard to materialise its dream of founding a music school where students will have a platform for pure music practice. Although Sheikh Khalid Hasan, Assistant Director of Bengal Shilpalay at Dhanmondi, cannot yet dare to give any deadline as to when the school may start, for a lot of preparation is still needed, he, however, is confident that it is not very far.

At least, the recent musical activities by Bengal Foundation provide enough proof of that aspiration. On May 26 evening it gave a presentation of Nazrul Sangeet titled Shangey Theko Sangeet performed by four young artistes--Bijon Chandra Mistri, Sadia Afreen Nahid Chowdhury, Jalal Hasan and Farhana Haque Mimi. The four are students of music under Bengal Foundation's scholarship and they are among those who take regular lessons from two of the subcontinent's eminent musicians, Ustad Mashkur Ali Khan and Shanti Sharma.

Recently these young performers took part in a workshop under the two musicians. Bijon informs that the workshop was actually on classical music. 'But that also helps us in Nazrul Sangeet', said Bijon.

However, things are not as simple as it seems. Ustad Mashkur and Shanti Sharma do not stay for long. Even they rarely can teach together. The workshops are settled according to their schedule. And what is yet more inconvenient is that the students try to learn from whoever visits the country whenever. According to Bijon, 'This is troublesome because we are not properly learning a particular gharana. For different musicians specialise in different classical trends.'

Khalid Hasan informed that 'Even our established musicians are also attending these workshops so that they can achieve the perfection which is necessary for running a music school.'

At the May 26 soiree, the four youth presented some brilliant piece of Nazrul Sangeet. Bijon and Farhana earned great applause from the audience. The other two also showed promising talent. Bijon's Amar aponar cheye apon je jon and Ar cheyona shunayona e nayon paney were undoubtedly the best pieces of the evening. He has a very open voice that enables him to modulate the tunes without much difficulty. Sadya sang four songs--Tumi jodi Radha hotey Shyam, Keno korun shurey hridoy hotey bajichhey banshi, Yakhono otheni chand and Keno ashiley bhalobashiley.

Shangey Theko Sangeet was a three-day presentation. The previous two days saw the rendition of classical vocal and instrumental by four other young performers who also attended the workshop under Mashkur Ali and Shanti Sharma.

Bengal Foundation's endeavour is certainly praiseworthy. For this will finally establish a strong platform of pure musical tradition in the country.