Programme at Shilpakala Academy
A musical programme with a short discussion, highlighting the accomplishments and contribution of the legendary singer Abdul Alim, was held at national Music and Dance Centre auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on September 17. Titled “Alok Shikha Joluk Pran-e”, the event was arranged by University Cultural Foundation. At the programme, the promising artiste duo — Mahfuzar Rahman and Yunusur Rahman — performed both solo and duet covers of songs originally recorded by Abdul Alim.
Noted folk singer and teacher Indra Mohan Rajbongshi shared his memories of his guru Abdul Alim. “Lucky are those who had the privilege of listening to the renditions of Abdul Alim live. I am really lucky in this regard. My musical mentor Abdul Alim had a great penchant for music. He became a legend because of his sonorous voice. If artistes and audiences of this generation want to know Abdul Alim, they must collect his records. Abdul Alim had over 600 gramophone records while he did playback for 90 films,” said Rajbongshi.
Mahfuzar kicked off the musical journey with the song “Allahu Allahu”. A duet of the patriotic number “Amar Desh-er Moto” followed. The full-house was calling for flautist Gazi Abdul Hakim who had not reached yet due to traffic jam. When the flautist came, Mahfuzar was about to render a bhatiali song “Ujan Gaang-er Naiya”. The singer did justice to the song.
Yunusur performed a popular song “Porer Jaiga Porer Jamin” that earned him a big round of applause. Due to conveying exaggerated emotion, the singer forgot some of the words and missed the beat while performing the very popular “Premer Mora Jol-e Dobey Na”.
The singer duo rendered several other songs including — “O Amar Pongkhiraj Re”, “Bodhur Bari Modhupur”, “Aar Kotokal Bhashbo Ami” and “Padma Nadirey”. They also performed another duet “Nongor Chhariya Nayer Dere Dey Majhi Bhai”.
Debendranath Chattopadhyay on tabla, SM Reza Babu on dotara and Sushil Kumar Sarkar on keyboard were the other accompanying instrumentalists at the event. Agrani Bank Limited sponsored the musical event.
-With The Daily Star input
