A great number of audiences from different walks of society enjoyed the traditional-music and dance performances held at the National Art Plaza of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Friday and Saturday.
The large number of crowd that the program drew made it evident that traditional culture can still enthrall the urban audience.
In the two-day Loko-Sangskriti Utsab, singers, musicians and dancers from all over the country made authentic presentations of various traditional genres.
The opening event was heightened to an altogether different level by a folk instrumental piece, composed by Dr Sayeem Rana. Titled as ‘delight of hunting’, the percussion-led composition recreated the ancient, tribal people’s joyous return after successful hunting.
Audience was thoroughly entertained by dance troupe Bhabna’s presentation of Rai beshi nritya, a genre which is not common in the country but a much acclaimed folk dance form in Medinipur and its adjacent areas in India.
The evenings were delightful for traditional music lovers as artistes rendered famous songs of legendary bards like Lalon Shah, Radharaman, Jalal Khan, Hasan Raja, Pagla Kanai, Bijoy Sarkar and others.
Other common genres of traditional music like sari gaan, bhawaiya, kichchha gaan, dhamail, puthipath, baromasi gaan and gazir gaan were also presented.
Both days, the event commenced with rural games like saat chara, boichhi, gollahchhut, haribhanga, lathikhela, patakhela, kanamachhi and others at the open space of BSA.
Three individual research papers on traditional culture were presented by folk culture researchers Kamol Khalid, Saimon Zakaria and Dr Syeem Rana.
A delighted Humayun Ahmed, student of Dhaka College, said, ‘This type of festivals should be arranged by BSA as many times as they can every year to promote our folk culture.’
Amir Hossain, an owner of a tea-stall, said, ‘I am really happy to hear these village-songs in Dhaka.’
Textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui inaugurated the festival on Friday which was presided over by Liaquat Ali Lucky, director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
-With New Age input
