Absent Bangladesh in the Classical field?

Mugdha Chandrika

The Bengal Classical Music Festival that aimed to revive the essence of classical music of Bangladesh is deemed to be the world's largest classical event internationally whereas it is yet assumed to be fading away from the country.

The Festival has effectively engrossed the audience with the world's finest maestros and it would not be possible to attract the masses if the icons would not step into the stadium with their classical charm. 

The Bengal Classical Music Festival at Army Stadium (Photo- Mugdha Chandrika)

One of the organizers of Bengal Foundation, Sharmishtha Rahman said: "It will take time to develop the essence of classical music within the audience of Bangladesh, especially the youth, this is an initiative to make them learn about the music."

The hype of the festival was surely for the international maestros as it captivated a greater number of audience, it will still take time to create similar hype for the classical musicians of the country.

'As the festival has succeeded to bring the audience, it is helping them know about the base of the music as well, this event is a platform for spreading the classical music and letting people understand it. We will be able to create this type of hype among the audience if the festival is held nationwide but we will go slow in this process." Sharmishtha added.

The event has attracted thousands of people but all of them are not considered to be music lover.

An audience, Indrajit Sarker said: "This is one of the most discussed topics of the event as an audience I have observed that most of the people have attended the event for their entertainment and hang out, they are not here for the music."

It is also assumed that most of youths that have attended the event know more about the international maestros than the national ones.

When asked an audience, Samina Nawar said: "I liked the flute recital by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia but I wont be able to name the classical musicians of Bangladesh."

The five-day Bengal Classical Music Festival organized by Bengal Foundation started on 24th November and ended on 28th November at Army Stadium of the capital and was dedicated to the memory of versatile author and poet Syed Shamsul Haq. The festival had brought the world's legendary maestros such as Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasiya, Arati Ankalikar, Pandit Kushal Das, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Kumar Mardur, Girja Devi, Pandit Shubhankar Banerjee and many other iconic artists that made the event memorable.

The event was presented by Square Group and supported by BRAC Bank.