1st International Music Festival 2005
Showcasing the universal language of music
Cultural Correspondent
Before human civilisation developed, before the first human even walked on earth, there were sounds. Even before we are born, our heartbeat asserts our existence. Hence, when music evolved from the basic concepts of sounds, it became a universal language that delineates every human emotion such as love, woe and joy. This was theme of the 1st International Music Festival 2005, which took place at the Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum from March 02 to 04.The Centre for Education, Creative and Performing Arts (CECPA), in association with Unesco Dhaka and Bangladesh National Commission for Unesco (BNCU), organised this gala. Renowned and emerging artistes from Japan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the host, Bangladesh performed in this festival. Minister for Education, Dr M Osman Farruk was the chief guest of the inaugural function. The State Minister for Cultural Affairs Begum Selima Rahman and the Unesco Representative in Bangladesh, Wolfgang Vollmann were present at the occasion as special guests. "Bangladesh has a rich culture that needs to be promoted. With sufficient endeavours, maybe one day we can rival the centre of prime cultural activities--Paris. This has been the sole purpose for arranging this international music festival," said Azad Rahman, chairman of the CECPA. The concept of universality of music was presented at the festival through the diversity of genres of music. On the first day of the festival, the audience was regaled with khayal, thumri, kajari, ghazals and instrumental music. The performers were Ustad Yaseen Khan, Shamima Parveen, Dr Harunur Rashid, Captain Azizul Islam and Karim Shahabuddin of Bangladesh, Hajlal Rafi of Pakistan, Kiyoko and Resto Hagiwara of Japan. On March 03, Kaveri Kar from India, Leo Baroi, Nafisa Azad, Krishnapada Mondol, Shahadat Hossain, Afsana Khan, Roksana Khan, Shamir Das and Shaheen Samad of Bangladesh entertained the audience with classical khayal, thumri and instrumental music. On the last day of the festival, Dr Ashit Roy, Rezwan Lavlu, Padmini Roy, Khalid Hossain, Mridulkanti Chakrabarty, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, Nuruzzaman Badshah of Bangladesh and Ruftu Rahman, a Japanese student, performed Nazrul Sangeet, Rabindra Sangeet, folk songs, khayal and instrumental music. Guna Sekarar of Sri Lanka played two Beethoven compositions on piano. The audience seemed to enjoy this musical treat. The festival came to a close with the prospect of greater government and public support for future music festivals.
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Ustad Shahadat Hossain rendered sarod on the second day of the music festival |
