To pay tribute to Humayun Azad, the plucky writer who dedicated his literary career to fighting against communalism, religious bigotry and superstition, a recitation evening was held at District Shipakala Academy in the port city on Sunday. To mark the 8th death anniversary of the lone warrior of rationalism and intellectual freedom, Proma Abritti Sanghathan, a leading cultural organisation of the port city focusing on elocution, organised the programme with the theme “Ghumiye Parar Agey Bajuk Bansi, Uthuk Beje”.
Born in 1947 at Rarhikhal of Munshiganj district, Humayun wrote poems, novels, dissertations, children’s literature and reviews. Humayun, an alumnus of Dhaka University and University of Edinburgh, was accorded the Ekushey Award in 2012.
The freethinker died at Munich, Germany on August 11, 2004. Prior to his death, Humayun was attacked brutally by religious fanatics on February 27 of the same year when he was returning home from the Bangla Academy Book Fair.
The event started with a reading from his political satire novel “Pak Sar Zamin Shadbad” by Munna. The one-hour long story depicted how the courageous writer was attacked by religious bigots for his literary works. By chanting slogans and moving around on the stage, the performers created a theatre- like environment.
The script was successfully interwoven with 26 poems, two texts of the scholar and three news items of the time when he was attacked by the fanatics. Three songs were also effectively used in the script.
At the programme, Biswajit Paul, Jerin Mili and Kankan Das rendered the poems “Ami ei matro”, “Je deshe bak Swadhinata nei” and “Kakhono swapna dekhi” respectively.
Rashed Hasan with his lucid voice recited “Shab Kichhu Noshtader Adhikare Jabey”. “Ami Shambhaboto Khub Chhoto”, recited by Mohit Biswas, “Ek Odbhut Shomoye Bash Kori Amra” by Sharmistha Barua and “Biswas” by Tajul Islam are worth mentioning.
Jobayer Jewel Suman, Runa Chowdhury, ATM Saifur Rahman and Manjur Munna’s recitations also received applause.
Appropriate use of light, digital slides and background music enhanced the inner messages of the recitation.
The programme ended with the group recitation “Bhalo theko phul, misti bakul bhalo theko”.
Moslem Uddin Shikdar, Cultural Officer of Shilpakala Academy, and Raju designed the light of the stage and digital slides. Poritosh Das, Aslam Hossain and Mahfuz Ahmed directed the background music.
-With The Daily Star input
