Lyrics Contest Winners

Ripa Sharkar
1st Position, Lyrics Contest

Bilal Hussain Nuri
2nd Position, Lyrics Contest

Ripa Sharkar stood first in Celebrating Life Lyrics contest and Bilal Hussain stood second. Ripa lives in a remote village in Bogra. Billal lives in a remote village in Comilla. Because our award ceremony was on a hartal day they came took the award and left. We tried to contact them but they could not be reached. Hence is was not possible for us to get the interview. We would like to congratulate them for their achievement.

“I Hope to Never Give up Writing”
Ashanuzzaman
3rd Position, Lyrics Contest

Ashanuzzaman is a purist, in his own words, towards the art of writing lyrics. A relatively new entrant into the field, since 2006, he has taken up lyricism as his passion and hobby. It was his senior colleague at the Bengali daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, who pushed him towards writing lyrics. Kabir Bakul and Ashanuzzaman would correspond with each other through the short message format over mobile phones. Ashanuzzaman, with his creative contemporary, would always pass his messages in rhyming sequences. This caught Kabir's eye. Thus the third place winner Ashanuzzaman put his thoughts down on paper in the form of lyrics, inspired from his roommate's t-shirt which portrayed a moon seen through a window with one of Jibon Ananda Dash's poems below it. And thus began his journey into the realms of writing.

Ashanuzzaman is twenty-five, pursuing his MBA degree from the Dhaka University majoring in Accounting. To him it is quite natural for pursuing a career path different from his passion. To him it is a matter of survival, because, sadly enough, life of a lyricist alone does not guarantee sustainability. But he says, “I hope to never give up writing.”

He claims to gather inspiration from Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. He asks himself as to why won't it be possible to achieve what they had in the past, and searching for the answer to that question motivates him. Kabir Bakul had inspired and motivated him to start writing, and he accepts Mohammad Rafiquzzaman's advice for the structure and rhythm that he displays in his works.

He hopes that lyricists will one day be brought into the spotlight from behind the scenes and be recognized for their contributions. “Celebrating Life Competition is exactly that kind of a platform that will allow this to happen,” says Ashanuzzaman, “as it has recognized so many new writers in Bangladesh.” He hopes that this will continue inspiring people in this manner for years to come.

Hasan Ameen Salahuddin

The award winners of Celebrating Life 2010 pose with the Honourable President Md. Zillur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam, Editor of the Daily Star and Jim McCabe, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh at the Award Giving Ceremony

A group dance based on the theme song of Celebrating Life.
This performance captivated the audience immensely.

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2009