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Meghdoot-Unesco poetry recital
held to mark Ekushey
Cultural Correspondent
It was a pleasant evening of poetry recital organised by Meghdoot in collaboration with the UNESCO to mark the 54th anniversary of the Ekushe or 21st February commemorating the martyrs who made supreme sacrifice to uphold the honour of Bangla Bhasha.
It is very fitting that each year in February Bangladesh in an atmosphere of solemnity and pride recalls the glorious history of the Bangla Language Movement of 1952. Around the globe, International Mother Language day is observed to inspire people to be vigilant so that no language is discriminated against, so that the fundamental rights to one's language are not trampled.
On the occasion of the International Mother Language day, it arranged a reading of different languages.
The collection of verses brought out on the occasion is the result of the enthusiasm of poetry-lovers, i.e. Bangladeshis and expatriates living in Dhaka who assembled on the eve of Ekushe to read most of these and other poems in their own languages and in English translation. The selection showcases poets from the past as well as contemporary voices. British, American,
Irish, Australian and Canadian poets have been included in the English segment to show the breadth that the English language has. In many instances the poetry chosen did not come from major poets like Tagore or Goethe or Hafiz for example. Some of the poems are given in the form of extracts so that one may appreciate Allama Iqbal, Seamus Heaney, and Margaret Atwood and from the extracts get a feel of what they have to offer. We hope these vagaries will not mar the pleasure that the book can give.
The following poems have been presented. Arabic: Tiny Things, by Abdellatif Laabi; Chinese: Watching Waterfall of Mount Lu, by Li Bai; Thoughts at Night, by Li Bai; Dutch: Memories of Holland, by Hendrik Marsman; English: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost; Bogland, by Seamus Heaney; Going, Going, by Philip Larkin; France:
L'Horloge', by Baudelaire; Le Dormeur du Val, by Arthur Rimbaud; German: The Town, by Theodor Storm;
Hindi: Poem, by Shri Harivanshrai Bachchan; Japanese:
Ame ni mo makezu, by Kenji Miyazawa; Persian: Hey You, by Nima Jushij; Russian: Exegi monumentum, by Alexander Pushkin; Spanish: Cassida del Llanta, by Federico Garcia Lorca; Swahili: Shaza, by Ahmed Nabhany; and Urdu: Shikwa, by Allama Iqbal.
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Paintings on poems at Chitrak
Cultural Correspondent
The paintings, displayed at the Chitrak Gallery, are based on poems by Shamsur Rahman, Rafiq Azad, Syed Shamsul Huq, Asad Chowdhury, Habibullah Siraji, Mahadeb Saha, Nirmalendu Goon, Rabiul Hussain, Mohammad Samad and other well known poets.
The gallery is holding an exhibition with the works of the painters comprising Nitun Kundu, Samarjit Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Mahmudul Haque, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Hashem Khan, Jamal Ahmed, Abdus Shakoor, Syed Jahangir, Sheikh Afzal, Kanak Chanpa Chakma and other renowned artists.
The artists have depicted the images presenting the inner meanings of the poems. Most of the artists have portrayed Dhaka city taking verses on the city life. On the other hand, the beauty of rural Bangladesh, the spirit of the Language Movement, the War of independence of the country, inner sufferings of people, have also come on canvas as subjects.
Nitun Kundu presents Shamsur Rahman's 'E shahar', while Rafiqun Nabi sketched 'Amar Shahar' based on a poem by Syed Shamsul Huq and Mahmudul Haque portrays Rafiq Azad's 'Hatkhola'.
Hamiduzzaman depicts Habibullah Siraji's 'Priya Shahar' and Nirmalendu Goon's 'Plassey Barrack e brishti' has been portrayed by Syed Jahangir. Both the artists have drawn the architectural views in their own styles.
Poet Hasan Hafiz's 'Hriday basini Dhaka' is portrayed by Ranajit Das. Das's use of mild yellow and radish tones catches the viewers' attention while Jamal Ahmed's two pigeons (based on a poem by Kazi Rosy) also bring the viewers to a distant world.
Biren Som's piece, based on Arunabh Sarkar's poem 'Landscape', creates a wider view in a small canvas. The artist also presents an architectural site of Dhaka city.
A total of 37 paintings by the artists are on display in the exhibition, which is jointly organised by the Chitrak Gallery and Jatiya Kabita Parishad, a national council for poetry.
The paintings are on sale ranging from Tk 15,000 to Tk 50,000. Some proceeds will go to the fund of the Kabita Parishad, said the organisers.
The exhibition will remain open from 10:00am to 8:00pm till February 28.
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Music programme by UNESCO today
Robab Rosan
The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) will hold a music programme titled 'Geetadhara' today at 6:30pm at the Bangladesh National Museum; the programme is being held in cooperation with music organisation Saptarshi.
The UNESCO representative in Bangladesh, Malama Meleisea, and Professor Alim-ur-Rahman Khan will be present as guests, while the director of Saptarshi, Razwan Ali will deliver the welcome speech at the function.
The organisers stated that they will present eight styles of songs based on classical ragas. A press briefing was arranged for the function on Thursday morning.
Shahida Pervin, programme officer (culture); Shamim Ahsan, communications and public relations officer of UNESCO; and the noted singers Nilotpal Sadhya, Yasmin Mushtari and Razwan Ali were present at the briefing; the singers will also be performing at the programme.
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BNCU begins 6-day Ekushey programmes
Cultural Correspondent
Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO (BNCU) began a six-day programme to mark International Mother Language Day. On the occasion, the organisation brought out a rally from its office in the city's Nilkhet area on February 20.
The students and teachers from eleven schools in the city and the UNESCO and BNCU officials took part at the rally.
After the rally, the BNCU secretary Mahmudul Hassan spoke about the spirit of Ekushey and the significance of the International Mother Language Day, proclaimed by the UNESCO.
The BNCU also brought out a rally and placed wreath to the Central Shaheed Minar in the morning of February 21.
Besides, the organisation arranged a painting competition for the children at the Bangladesh Shishu Academy in the city on February 22.
Children aged between three to sixteen years participated at the competition. The organisers divided the entries into our groups. The theme of the competition was 'Amar Ekushey'.
The UNESCO representative to Dhaka, Malama Meleisea was present as chief guest. A seminar titled 'Role of UNESCO in restoring indigenous languages which are on the verge of extinction' will be held at 3:30pm on February 25 at the auditorium of the Planning Academy in Nilkhet.
Abul Kalam Mansur Morshed will read out the keynote paper. Vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Dr MA Faiz will be present as chief guest and the UNESCO representative, Malama Meleisea will be present as special guest.
As part of the Ekushey programme, the Bangladesh National Association of UNESCO Clubs will organise a two-day exhibition of UNESCO books in cooperation with the BNCU at the Central Public Library in Shahbagh which will begin on February 27.
Mayor of the Dhaka City Corporation, Sadeq Hossain Khoka will inaugurate the exhibition at 11:30am on the day while Malama Meleisea will be present as special guest. The president of the UNESCO Clubs, journalist Gias Kamal Chowdhury will chair the inaugural session.
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Nadir's solo show held
Rafi Zahed
The first solo exhibition by a young artist Nadir Shahriar ended recently at the Alliance Française de Dacca.
The show was formally inaugurated on February 15 by Rafiqun Nabi, professor of the Institute of Fine Arts.
The gallery exhibited some of the enchanting pieces done by the artist. Over the past few days, visitors were quiet impressed by Nadir's artworks. The aptly titled exhibition 'Destination' was a journey of a man in accordance with time.
The paintings depicted that of a man in various positions. Here, positions refered to time and state in which the man was being pictured.
According to Nadir all humans were limited to a structure of life, where growth and decay were parts of natural life.
If one looked closely at the paintings, one would see the various colours like bold green, red, black and blue.
Each colour denoted a phase, for instance, red signifies death. One of the paintings depicted an old man sitting quietly in one corner of the room. The man was afraid of death but his time had come to go into another destination.
Another exhibit depicted the path to harmony. Here the colour green was used to convey the man's interaction with Mother Nature.
In another position, one would find the man in complete darkness. The colour black was used to signify solitude. Here the man was going through isolation.
Without any doubt, each piece was exceptionally composed. Nadir's thoughts and ideas were well narrated by his use of his brush.
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Kabita Utsab held in city
Cultural Correspondent
The 21st version of Jatiya Kabita Utsab, national poetry festival, was held on the Dhaka University campus with the participation of poets from home and abroad.
Poet Syed Shamsul Huq opened the two-day festival, with 'poetry comes back to us in newer processions' as this year's theme - on the lawn of the university library in the morning. The event this year is dedicated to the memory of Shamsur Rahman.
The Jatiya Kabita Parishad president, Rabiul Hussain chaired the opening session and Shihab Sarkar read out the declaration of the festival.
Syed Huq said poems are the main stream of expression of people in this part of the world and they hold the pulse of the people.
'It is poetry which holds all human values, tolerance, human rights, non-communal spirit, and progressiveness when diversity of democracy is at stake,' he said.
The festival opened with the singing of the festival song. Aslam Sani, Habibullah Shiraji, and Samudra Gupta also addressed the opening session.
A procession was brought out and the marchers placed flowers on the tomb of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin and Patua Quamrul Hasan.
They also placed flowers at the Central Shaheed Minar, in honour of the martyrs of the language movement.
Three sessions of recitation of poems by the poets took place in the afternoon on the first day of the festival.
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Bangla Calligraphy show begins
Cultural Correspondent
Marking the International Mother Language, the British Council Bangladesh is holding an eleven-day Bangla calligraphy exhibition by Arham-ul-Huq Chowdhury.
The executive director of Ain-o-Salish Kendra, Sultana Kamal, Dr Farida Zaman, professor of the Institute of Fine Art of Dhaka University and Luva Nahid Choudhury, director general of Bengal Foundation jointly inaugurated the exhibition at 5:30pm on February 17.
In an appreciation Syed Manzurul Islam said, 'His calligraphy is design-oriented and uses natural objects, such as tress, flowers, fish or birds as the base, with calligraphy clatters filling up the larger visual space'. His scripting is often deliberate and not always refined or elegant, but certainly dynamic, he added.
His exhibitions are consistently unconventional and exciting, ranging from displays of furniture art in 1999, bonsai plants in 2001 to scrap metal sculpture in 2005. His latest exhibition as a tribute to the
mother tongue, he has returned to one of
his favourite themes, through the creation of a beautiful series of poem-paintings in Bangla calligraphy.
Most of his work focuses on the natural world, with designs incorporating trees, flowers, fish, and birds in vibrant colours. The show will remain open from 10:00am to 8:00pm everyday till February 28.
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Miles, Shikor to perform Feb 24
Cultural Correspondent
Music bands comprising Miles and Shikor will perform at a show titled 'Romance Unplugged' in the evening of February 24 at the Radisson Water Garden Hotel in the city.
Anggina Advertising Agency organises the programme to pay tribute to all time hit love songs from 1970 to 1990 by Air Supply, Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi, Brian Adams, Cris Rea, Cris De Burg, Don Maclean, Dire Straits, John Denver, Phill Collins,U2 and many more.
Tickets, priced at Tk 500, will be available at the American Club, Canadian Club, Nordic Club, German Club, Shawrma House and other places in the city.
For more information and advance booking, interested persons can contact over telephone 01818616612, 01714040094, and 01722344837.
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Show of bead jewellery begins on Feb 24
Cultural Correspondent
A week-long exhibition of bead jewellery titled Beauty and the Beads' by Papa Nurun Nahar will begin on February 24 at 5:30pm on the day in Dhanmondi.
President of the Bangladesh Women Entrepreneurs Association Rokia Afzal Rahman will inaugurate the exhibition as chief guest while eminent artists Aminul Islam and Syed Jahangir will be present as special guests.
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Handwriting competition today
Cultural Correspondent
The Bangladesh National Museum will hold a competition on fair handwriting at 9:30am at its compound in Shahbagh on February 23 to mark the Amar Ekushey and International Mother Language Day.
Students from class I to class X will take part at the competition. Five winners from each group will be selected as winners.
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