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Great vocalist Abbasuddin remembered
Cultural Correspondent
The eminent bhawaiya music maestro Abbasuddin Ahmed was remembered on Sunday at a discussion programme followed by a bhaiwaiya evening, held on the occasion of the 106th anniversary of his birth.
Bhawaiya Angan, a Dhaka-based cultural organisation of bhawaiya songs, held a discussion and a bhawaiya evening, at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum in the city.
Abbasuddin's son, former chief justice and also chairman of Law Commission, Justice Mustafa Kamal was present as chief guest while president of Rangpur Research Parishad, Motahar Hossain Sufi, theatre personality Asaduzzaman Noor and banker Habibur Rahman were present as special guests.
Founder and executive director of Bhawaiya Angan, AKM Mustafizur Rahman delivered the speech of welcome. Chairperson of the organisation, Salma Mustafiz presided over the function.
Abbasuddin popularised the traditional bhawaiya songs, which is originated in the northern part of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India, at home and abroad. He had also established this genre of folksong as an integral part Bengal's folk culture, said the speakers.
'The singer had touched the souls of Bengalis irrespective of caste, colour and creed with his melodious voice, they said adding the songs of Abbasuddin, who got inspiration from rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haq, Sir Prafulla Chandra Roy and others, are the rich treasure of cultural heritage of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India.
They also said that the Islamic songs written by Nazrul Islam and sung by Abbas Uddin were very effective in the cultural renaissance of Bengali Muslims. Abbasuddin had also popularised other genres of Bangla folksongs including, bhatiali, murshidi and marfati. The speakers also emphasised the preservation of Abbasuddin's songs and to provide support in popularising the bhawaiya songs among the singers of present generation.
Noted and younger singers of bhawaiya songs captivated the audience singing the popular songs, sung by Abbasuddin.
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Korean film festival begins today
Cultural Correspondent
A three-day Korean film festival will begin at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum in the city on November 2.
A total of three films -- Sopyonje, Barefoot Ki-bong and YMCA Baseball Team -- will be screened at the festival which will end on November 4.
The show, organised by the Korean embassy, will begin at 7:00pm every day.
The festival will kick off with Sopyonje. Its story tells of a family of traditional Korean pansori singers trying to make a living in the modern world.
The film was originally expected to only draw limited interest, but it ended up breaking box-office records and became the first Korean film to draw
over a million viewers in Seoul alone.
When it was released, Sopyonje's success also increased interest in pansori among modern audiences.
The film was acclaimed critically, both in South Korea and abroad, getting screened in Cannes Film Festival and winning six Grand Bell Awards and six Korean Film Critics' Awards.
On the second day, Barefoot Ki-bong will be screened.
The plot goes: Ki-bong, who suffered from a fever when he was a child, is commonly known as a 'fool'.
The village people call him Barefoot Ki-Bong because he runs barefoot with food.
As the protagonist loves his mother the most, he decides to take part in the national amateur marathon to buy artificial teeth for his mother with the prize money and works hard looking forward to the day of the race.
YMCA Baseball Team will be screened on the concluding day.
The plot goes: Ho-chang's single interest is sports.
When one day he sees Jung-lim playing baseball with the missionaries at YMCA, he discovers his true love.
Though his father is against all western influences, Hochang begins to pursue baseball with a passion.
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Leelabati Akhyan drama staged
Cultural Correspondent
Loko Natyadal's latest play 'Leelabati Akhyan' was staged at the Experimental Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city on Saturday.
The play, written by Nasreen Mustafa and directed by Liaqawt Ali Lucky, is based on the folktale of 'Khona', who is still very popular among the farmers particularly in Bangladesh and the north-eastern part of India.
The play presents the story of the princes of Sinhal currently known as Sri Lanka, Leelabati, who was confined to the fort of enemy after the defeat and death of her father.
Leelabati was then a young child and being fostered by her father's court astronomer called Munjal. He rescues a male child of five days from sea coast of the fort.
When they were sixteen year old, they fall in love with each other and wed keeping the god Sun as witness.
Leelabati using her astronomical knowledge sees that her husband called Mihir is the son of Barah, the court astronomer of the kingdom Ujjayini. They along with the astronomer escape from the fort and take shelter under the king of Ujjayini. They disclose their identity at the court and at last Barah accepts them.
Leelabati achieved knowledge about agriculture and she was able to forecast the weather after observing the position of stars. The farmers were benefited after following her suggestions related to cultivation. Seeing this, the king of Ujjayini Harsha-Bikramaditya declared Leelabati as the tenth jewel of his kingdom.
Barah felt jealous and told his son to cut the tongue of his wife Leelabati so that she cannot give guidance to the farmers.
Leelabati has survived as 'Khona', means the person whose tongue is cut. The speeches of Leelabati are popularly known as the 'Khonar Bachan' or the speeches of Khona.
The director starts the play in a narrative style. Mahfuza Helali Happy and Masud Sumon performed the roles of Leelabati and Mihir respectively.
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Civil Service Management in Bangladesh An Agenda for Policy Reform
The study is a pioneering attempt on civil service management in Bangladesh. The study is a unique blend of practitioner's knowledge and academic insight of the operation of the administrative machinery of Bangladesh. As many as ten key aspects of management have been identified, analysed and evaluated in depth with suggested actions for the future. These areas are both conventional and new. The conventional areas include recruitment, training, pay, pension, promotion etc. The new areas are need assessment to determine size of civil service, disposal of business and openness versus secrecy in government. The strengths and weaknesses of the prevailing management framework are analysed and evaluated to drive home the point that there is need to strengthen the existing salutary aspects before debunking the prevailing system as outmoded and leaping into new areas of reform.
An important point that emerges is the institutional failure of the political machinery to strengthen civil service management. The issue requires further investigation and research in light of bureaucratic resistance to reform measures. The author has suggested some important areas of reform in light of constitutional provisions on civil service, which demand attention of the policy makers and others having an interest in the subject.
A M M Shawkat Ali joined the former Civil Service of Pakistan in 1966 and served in many important positions in the government of Pakistan and Bangladesh. He retired from service as Secretary 2001. He is now engaged himself in private sector research and consultancy and contributing columns to major English and Bangla dailies, besides working as Adjunct Professor in East West University, and Civil Service College, Dhaka.
His earlier books include: Field Administration and Rural Development in Bangladesh (Dhaka University: Centre for Social Studies, (1982). Politics and Land System in Bangladesh (Dhaka: NILG, 1986); Politics, Upazila and Development (Dhaka: NILG, 1986); Agricultural Credit in Bangladesh (Dhaka: CDR, 1990); Aspects of Public Administration in Bangladesh (Dhaka: Nikhil Prokashon, 1993); The Lore of Mandarins: Towards a Non-Partisan Public Service in Bangladesh (Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2002); Bangladesh Civil Service: A Political-Administrative Perspective (Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2004); Faces of Terrorism in Bangladesh (Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2006).
Civil Service Management in Bangladesh
An Agenda for Policy Reform
A M M Shawkat Ali
Price: Tk. 560.00
The University Press Limited
61 Motijheel C/A, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
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Documentary on violence against children
Cultural Correspondent
Nirabatar Mukti-2, a documentary show on violence against children was launched on Sunday at the LGED Bhaban in the city to create awareness amongst citizens.
The film was launched to mark the 'UN study on violence against children' which inspired governments around the world to commit to end tortures on children as part of a UN resolution.
The ceremony, jointly organised by Save the Children Sweden-Denmark and the daily Samakal, was followed by the screening of the film, produced by Ichchey Media Group.
The film has been made based on true stories which were reported throughout last year in five major daily newspapers - Prothom Alo, Samakal, Jugantor, Ittefaq and Jai Jai Din.
The members of the Ichchey Media Group, an organisation works with the children since 2006, screened Nirabatar Mukti-2 which depicts children experiencing inhuman experiences in their personal life.
The film showed how cruel practices like rape, murder, kidnapping, physical and mental torture, accidents, death due to lack of treatment and unnatural death still prevails in our society which are killing large number of children each year.
Professor of dramatics in Jahangir Nagar University, Dr Selim Al Din, inaugurated the launching ceremony and spoke on the subject.
Acting country representative of Save the Children Sweden-Denmark, Obaidur Rahman, joint secretary of labour and manpower ministry, Abdus Sattar, deputy editor of the daily Samakal, Muzammil Hussain and Bangladesh National Women Lawyer's Association, Salma Ali, spoke at the function, among others.
This year on October 19, New York, more than 1,000 non-governmental organisations from 134 countries called on the United Nations General Assembly to establish a Special Representative to the Secretary-General on violence against children.
The NGOs called to follow up a comprehensive global UN study on violence against children that was completed last year.
The study documented widespread brutality against children in the home, schools, care and justice institutions, the workplace and the community.
The UN study includes a range of recommendations to UN member states to prevent violence against children and take more effective measures to respond to the hostility.
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BCRA honours 63 artistes
Cultural Correspondent
The Bangladesh Cultural Reporters Association honoured 63 artistes with the BCRA Award for their respective performances at different areas of entertainment in 2006.
The awards were on films, TV plays, telefilms, commercials, audio albums and cultural reports published in newspapers.
The award-giving cere-mony was held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre recently.
A Tribute for Excellent Contribution to the Industry and Cine Journalism Award 2006 went to Fazlul Huq, (posthumous) the editor of the film magazine Cinema and also the director of the first film with the children, President.
In the film category, the best film award went to Aaina while Rickshawalar Prem was awarded as the best commercial film.
Kabori Sarwar received the best director award for Aaina. Manna received the best actor award while Nipun won the best actor award in the female race. Dighi received the best child artiste critics' award.
In the television category, Mir Sabbir won the most popular TV actor for his performance in Dui Kuthuri Ek Daraja while DA Tayeb received the best actor for Apannash.
Eminent personalities from the socio-cultural arena attended the function.
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