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Exhibition drawing large crowd
Importance of mask in our folk culture
Tania Sharmeen
The colourful mask exhibition, third of its kind in Dhaka, has started drawing both children and their parents browsing through an array of masks representing both local and foreign fairytales.
Prakritajan Prajanma, a cultural organisation, and the students of Bulbul Academy of Fine Art (BAFA), jointly organised the five-day exhibition at the Art Club Bangladesh at Gulshan in the city.
Locally produced masks, featuring both local and world heritages and cultures, are on display at the exhibition.
The local masks are representative of different characters of fairytale such as Dalimkumar, Rakshash-Khokshash, Pankhiraj and Chandmama.
Some of the masks also make political statements. For example, the mask of Dalimkumar has protruded eyes and sewn-up lips, suggesting that the people in this country are witness to all the misdeeds but cannot speak out against them.
The objective of the exhibition, however, runs deeper than making some political statements.
The organisers say the exhibition is part of their campaign to highlight the significance of mask in the country's folk culture.
Every society has its own culture and heritage that finds expression in different ways. Mask is one such form of culture and heritage. Unfortunately, it has become an endangered art form, they say.
Children these days are not attracted by folktales; in fact, they know very little about home-grown fairytales, the organisers say.
Western comics and cartoons seem to have crowded out our folklores, they say.
Whereas masks of Dalimkumar, Rakshash-Khokshash, etc. were once the main attraction of different fairs, children are now more interested to buy costumes of Superman, Spiderman and other cartoon characters, they say.
The children are keen to watch Tom and Jerry on television, and not Thakurmar Jhuli, the organisers point out.
While they agree that some production houses are trying to popularise our own culture through animations such as Meena, the organisers feel it is not enough.
A prime objective of the exhibition is, therefore, to take the characters of our folklore closer to the children, they say.
The response has been encouraging. "Children coming to the exhibition want to know more about the masks and their origin," say one of the organisers.
This is the third mask exhibition by the cultural organisation. The first was held last year on the history of Bangladesh and the second on Pahela Baishakh this year.
Members of 'Faring', a children's organisations, and students of the dramatics department at Dhaka University made the masks for the Pahela Baishakh exhibition.
Prof. Shamsuzzaman Khan, a former director of the national museum, inaugurated the exhibition on Monday.
Some of those masks have been put on sale at this exhibition, which will remain open from 11:00am to 7:00pm till June 29.
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Anti-drug concert held
Robab Rosan
Music, not drugs; life not war, the slogan of a programme organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, inspired several hundred audiences to throng the academy's National Theatre Hall at Segun Bagicha Tuesday evening.
Eminent signers and a number of band groups performed at the concert, the academy organised as part of its endeavour to make the young generation aware of the effect of drug abuse.
The concert began with the academy's dramatics and film department director, Shafi Kamal, signing 'jiban to ektai' followed by 'do not say goodbye' composed by him.
Nur-e-Hafza presented a soliloquy of a mother, whose son was drug addict. The soliloquy, titled 'kande kon krandasi' described a mother's pathos for her son's becoming a drug addict.
A group of fieldworkers of an anti-drug movement performed a dance, directed by Dipa Khandaker. The dance piece was based on the song 'Sarbanasher dike amra pa bariechhi'. Noted singer Subir Nandi then sang one of his popular songs 'amar ei duti chokh pathar to noy'.
Amina Mukti Gomez sang another anti-drug song 'esho na bali madakke' followed by a group dance 'deshe dashyu elo', directed by MR Wasek.
Labanya and her troupe presented a fusion dance under the direction of Shafiqur Rahman.
Noted singer of Nazrul songs Ferdous Ara sang 'natun neshar amar e mad' while Nashid Kamal presented the popular folksong 'amay eto rate keno dak dili'.
Jayanta Mukharjee Shibu and Pagla Bablu sang Lalon's 'chander gaye chand legechhe' and 'soda mon thakba hunsh'.
The chatak dance with the popular folk song 'aji bahal kariya bajanre dorata' delighted the audience.
Among other band groups, Fakir Alamgir's Wrishij performed at the function.
The adviser in-charge of the social welfare, and women and children affairs ministries, Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury, was present as chief guest at the function chaired by the academy director general, Qamrul Hasan. Director (production) of the academy Zinat Barkatulla delivered the address of welcome.
The discussants talked about the effect of drug abuse and urged the guardians to protect their children from drug abuse.
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Biplob receives best film director award in China
Cultural Correspondent
Golam Rabbani Biplob, director of the full-length feature film Swapnadanay, (On the Wings of Dreams) grabbed the best director award at the 10th Shanghai International Film Festival. He received the award in the Asian New Talent Award category for his clear thoughts and the spirited story-telling.
The festival kicked off on June 16 and continued till June 24. A total of ten films were screened in the Asian New Talent Award category. The best film of the Asian New Talent Award of the festival went to Bliss, a film from the host country, China. The film has been chosen for its sincerity and artistic integrity.
The film, Swapnadanay, featuring Mahmuduzzaman Babu, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Rokeya Prachy, Momena Chowdhury, Shamima Islam, Ratan, Soma, Golam Rasul, Shah Alam Kiran and others, has been produced by the Impress Telefilm Ltd.
The plot of the play revolves around Babu-- a hawker in the Barendra area who somehow manages to keep his family happy, selling ointments and by playing tricks in the local fairs. His ten year old son assists him in these businesses. The plot takes a sudden turn when the protagonist finds some foreign currency from a second hand trouser bought for his son.
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Lalon songs delight audience
Cultural Correspondent
Noted and promising singers of baul songs gathered at the soiree of Lalon songs organised by a cultural organisation called Pratisrishti at the auditorium of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra in the city on Saturday.
Singing popular Lalon songs the singers delighted a large audience.
The soiree began with the instrument recitals, which was followed by the presentation of Lalon's 'Ami apar hohe base achhi, o he Dayamaya' by Rabeya Basri Barsha. The singer also sang 'Barir kachhe Arshinagar'.
Baul singer Babul Sarkar delighted the audience singing 'Par kara he Dayal' and 'Jani papi hote'. His moving presentation of Lalon songs created a devotional feeling among the audience. With the request of the audience, Babul came again on the stage at the end of the soiree and concluded the function singing 'Jhiyer pete mayer janma'.
Among other singers, Anima Mukti sang 'Na jene mui', 'Amrita megher bari' and 'Dhanya dhanya bali tare'. The audience also enjoyed her songs highly, particularly, because of her devotional touch in presenting the songs.
The audience also enjoyed Surabhi Jasmine's emotional presentation of the song 'More ni rakhben Gurur charan dasi' and 'Paba madhur charan'.
Noted singer Kalpana Rajbangshi enthralled the audience singing 'Sei kala chand node echhese' and 'Tin pagaler holo dekha'.
The signers were accompanied by Ashutosh Shil on the dotara; Sheikh Abu Zafar on flute; Swapan on dhol; Mritunjay on tabla and Atowar and Rubel on mandira.
Surja and Mainul designed the set.
Chief of Pratisrishti, Sahriar Salam, said that they arranged the programme of Lalon songs as part of their regular activities to present the traditional cultural heritage of the country among the city dwellers.
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Inter-university short film festival ends
Cultural Correspondent
A two-day inter-university festival of short films was held for the first time at the auditorium of German Cultural Centre in Dhanmandi.
The Dhaka University Film Society, in cooperation with Goethe Institut, arranged the international festival which kicked off on June 24.
Eminent filmmaker Soovas Dutta inaugurated the festival as chief guest while Shaheen Rashid of the institute spoke at the inaugural session.
Soovas Dutta in his speech encouraged the young filmmakers and hoped that they would bring honour for the nation with their works in future.
Shaheen Rashid also appreciated this kind of initiative by the Dhaka University Film Society. She hoped to continue the institute's cooperation with the younger filmmakers.
On the second day, noted film director, Morshedul Islam, was present as chief guest and distributed certificates and crests among the Bangladeshi filmmakers.
According to the organisers, they screened around forty films, made by the promising student-filmmakers from 10 countries including the host country Bangladesh.
They said that the largest network of short films called Future Shorts in the United Kingdom has also extended their supports in arranging the festival, which was open for all.
From Bangladesh, the students of Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, Chittagong University, BRAC University, North South University, American International University of Bangladesh and others took part at the festival.
The other participating nations were Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Belgium, the United States of America, Finland and Denmark.
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Nilufar, Mesbah enthral audience at French music festival
Cultural Correspondent
Singer of Tagore and modern songs Nilufar Banu Lily and ghazal singer Mesbah Ahmed enthralled the audience on the occasion the music festival at the auditorium of Alliance Française on Sunday.
The fête de la musique began with Nilufer's solo presentation of the Tagore song 'Aguner parashmani' after which she presented 'Amar hiyar majhe lukiye chhile' and 'Tumi kemon kore gaan koro he guni'.
Nilufar also sang songs written by legendry poets Atul Prasad, Rajani Kanta Sen, DL Roy and the songs composed by Pratul Mukhapaddhaya, Kamal Das Gupta. Among the songs of Rajani Kanta, she sang the devotional songs 'Ami akriti adham bole' and 'Tumi nirmal koro'.
She sang Atul Prasad's 'Ke abar bajay banshi', 'Eka mor gaaner tori', 'Shraban jhulate badal rate' and 'Bandhuya, nid nai ankhi pate'.
She delighted the audience singing some of the popular songs, composed by Kamal Das Gupta. She sang 'Duti pakhi duti tire', 'Emona barsha chhilo sedin', 'Ghumer chhaya chander chokhe' and 'Prithibi amare chay'.
The singer received appreciation singing Pratul Mukhapaddhaya's 'Ami Banglar gaan gai' and finished with Mousumi Bhaumik's popular number 'Ami shunechhi sedin tumi'.
Mesbah Ahmed's ghazal evening
Patthar bana diya mujhe - Mesbah began his mehfil singing the song in the second part of the programme. The popular ghazal singer captivated the audience with the popular numbers of the eminent Urdu poets in the evening of the day.
He sang 'Tum itna jo mushko ra ha ho'; 'Khanjar se torbat na tolwar se puchhe', 'Mousum ka jabab', 'Kaun kehta he mohabbat', 'Tumko dekha to ye kyal aya', and other ghazals with his emotional attachment to them.
The singer has the quality to involve the audience with the rhyme and rhythm of the songs as he was very interactive with the listeners who responded to his performance and highly acclaimed the singer style.
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