Following the age old tradition of celebrating Chaitra Sangkranti, the last day of the Bangla calendar, different organisations in Dhaka arranged colourful programmes on Saturday night. Significant features of the traditional way of celebrating the last day of the year such as ‘Gajoner Mela’ and ‘Charok’ were missing in such programmes as the urbanites celebrated Chaitra Sangkranti as an entertainment not as a row of rituals like the believers in the rural areas.
But, there was no lack of enthusiasm amongst the organisers and participants in the programmes held in Dhaka. They bid adieu to the past year not through performing rituals, but with musical joy and dance recitals.
Theatre activists gathered at the TSC of Dhaka University to join a procession
organised by Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation, which paraded from the place to the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala
Academy.
Led by thespian Ferdousi Majumdar, theatre activists and artistes lit fire torches to bid farewell to the last setting sun of 1419, and sang Tagore’s Aguner poroshmoni chhowao prane urging to enlighten souls of individuals.
An elaborate programme followed the farewell to setting sun, featuring music and recitation at the Experimental Theatre Hall.
Ustad Shahadat Hossain Khan, along with his twin daughters Afsana and Rukhsana, presented raga mishra mand on sarod, captivating the audience. Rozina Lina and Sabira Mahbub Jony recited Tagore and Nazrul’s poems respectively.
Different troupes including Theatre (Baily Road), Subachan Natya Sangsad, Natyakendra, Prachyanat and Loko Natyadal presented songs from their plays.
Praising BGTF’s celebration, Sujon Ahmed, a young theatre activist, said, ‘It is a good thing that BGTF has been celebrating the traditional Chaitra Sangkranti over the years. Celebration like this should be continued.’
On the other hand, Surer Dhara and Channel-i jointly organised the programme titled ‘Hajaro Kanthe Koti Bangalir Barsabaran’ where renowned singers performed beside artistes from the organisation. The show also featured a few dance numbers.
It began with singing of Tomar ananda elo elo by Surer Dhara artistes.
The show became more pleasant when hundreds of child artistes dressed in identical Bengali attire sang Phagun hawai amader khepiye berai, Moner rang legechhe and Jabona jabona ghorey in their tender, melodious voices.
The audience was awestruck by the chorus of thousand artistes’ synchronised presentation of several evergreen Tagore numbers including Ha re re re amay, Jaago parobashi bhagabato prem piyashi, Ke shey paramo sundor and others.
In solo presentations, Mahadev Ghosh’s rendition of love song Amaro porano jaha chay and Sajed Akbar’s performance of Dokhin hawai jaago jaago touched the heart of the listeners. Aditi Mohsin and Salma Akbar, on the other hand, received audience acclaims when they presented Kanna hashir dol dolano and Akash jurey shuni in their tuneful voices.
Besides, noted singers Subir Nandi, Indramahan Rajbanshi, Luva Nahid Chowdhury also performed at the show. Dance artiste Bipasha presented a solo dance with Tripti Khan’s singing of Aji dokhin howai. Sharmila Bandopadhyay, Prema and Warda Rihab’s dance presentation made the show enjoyable.
Commencing at 6:00pm, the programme ended at midnight with Surer Dhara’s presentation of Eso hey baishakh eso eso.
-with New Age input
