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National Art Exhibition at Shilpakala
Mohiuddin Alamgir
The twentythree-day 18th National Art Exhibition, inaugurated on May 24 at National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha, draws the attention of the viewers.
From 1800 submitted artworks, the jury members and selection committee selected 222 art pieces of 198 artists. The artists have executed works in different media, namely, oil, watercolour, tempera, acrylic, mixed media, graphics, installations and sculpture with different materials giving high aesthetic impressions with various expressions.
After entering into the gallery the viewers will see 'Uncertain life' by Mohammad Wahiduzzaman. The installation reminds the viewers the uncertainty of life. Another installation of Nurul Amin titled 'I, coffin and death' describes death, certain fate of a human being.
A good number of artists in their artworks feature political and administrative situation of the country. Kamruzzaman Shadin in his 'People are the source of all power' has tried to find out the basic of democratic thought. In a work of Mohammad Hasanur Rahman naming 'Roosters' eggs admin and we face' depicts the incapable administration of the country and sufferings of the general people of the country.
Along with others the 'Glimpse of the paddy field' an artwork by Sagar Chandra Das, 'Eco of Paharpur' by Kanak Chanpa Chakma, 'Life hampered in golden dream' by Sharif Ahmed depict the landscape, historical place and working life of the people of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy award winning painting 'Target 2' by Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan, AB Bank award winning 'Moorang 2' by Musrat Reazi, Bengal Foundation award wining 'Fragmented Image' by Golam Faruque Bebul draw the attraction of the visitors more.
The video installations in the exhibition were crowded by the visitors. Among them, the 'City of Night 2' by Kazi Salauddin Ahmed depicts the busy city life in Dhaka with the sounds of traffic. Another installation 'Nine month cycle' by Yasmin Jahan Nupur showing the reproduction cycle of the females of the world, were praised by the visitors of the show.
At the show, artworks of the past decades reveal a huge variety of styles and trends which have made the exhibition's quality high.
Mehedi, an Art Faculty student of Dhaka University told New Age, 'This kind of exhibition gives us opportunity to get closer to the extensive, fertile and interesting work of the contemporary Bangladeshi artists. We can learn the technique of the artworks from them.'
The organisers hope that the exhibition will help find promising artists of the country. They said that they have received some outstanding works.
The exhibition remains open from 11:00am to 7:00pm everyday.
On Fridays, it will remain open from 3:00pm and 8:00pm. The exhibition will conclude on
June 12.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award winning
artwork Target-2 by Mohammad Mahmudul Hasan
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Indian playwright Tanvir passes away
BBC
Veteran Indian playwright and theatre director Habib Tanvir has died aged 85 after a brief illness, his family says.
Tanvir was admitted to hospital in the central city of Bhopal three weeks ago with breathing difficulties. His funeral will take place on Tuesday.
Tanvir wrote plays like Agra Bazar and Charandas Chor, winning several Indian and international awards for his work.
He also appeared in nine feature films, including Richard Attenborough's Gandhi in 1982.
Born on 1 September 1923 at Raipur (in Madhya Pradesh), Tanvir began his career as a journalist and went on to become a playwright.
In 1959, he founded a theatre company called the Naya Theatre.
He was nominated as a member of India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from 1972 to 1978.
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Swabhumi presents songs of
Tagore, Nazrul
Cultural Correspondent
Swabhumi, a centre for writers, organised a soiree of the songs of Tagore and Nazrul in the evening of Monday at the Goethe-Institut in Dhanmondi.
The organisation arranged the programme on the occasion of the birth anniversaries of the Bishwakabi Rabindranath Tagore and the national poet of the country Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Noted poet Asad Chowdhury was present as guest at the programme while litterateur Mujtoba Ahmed Murshed presided over the function.
Five singers Arif Rahman, Lana Khan, Polash Khan, Biswas Dhilon and Safia Afroz Ethe sang at the programme. They sang some of the popular Nazrul and Rabindranath Sangeet.
In his speech, poet Asad Chowdhury said, 'During British colonial period we all were merely subjects. Nazrul and Rabindranath educated us as we are no more subjects but human beings. He also added Tagore and Nazrul songs inspired us to face the challenges of this chaotic world.
Poet Asad Chowdhury recited his own poems 'Bakul Phuler Mala' and 'Lokta'.
The programme started with a choreography presented by Yasna Rahman. She danced with the song 'Ami elem tari daare'.
Then Polash Khan came with the Tagore songs 'Aji pranami tomere' and 'Amar hiar majhe'. Lana Khan sang the Nazrul song ' Mor ghum ghore ele manahar', 'Amar haate kali mukhe kali Ma' and ' Dur azaner madhur dhwani baje masjider minare'.
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A-Mei fights global hunger
Agence France-Presse . Singapore
Taiwan's A-Mei, one of Asia's most popular singers, is lending her voice to a campaign to fight global hunger in exchange for the kindness she experienced from strangers during her impoverished youth.
The 36-year-old pop diva, real name Chang Hui Mei, was in Singapore to support the local chapter of the Christian charity World Vision in its efforts to raise awareness about starvation around the globe.
'When I was very young and living with my tribe, my family was really poor and our tribe had really poor facilities,' she told reporters ahead of a 30-hour 'Famine Camp' involving 1,000 students that ended late Saturday.
The event, featuring A-Mei as a guest celebrity, was staged to give some of the affluent city-state's teenagers a taste of what it is like to starve. The participants were restricted to taking water only for 30 hours.
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Poetry recitation at Shaukat
Osman auditorium
Mohammad Anowar Parvez
A solo poetry recitation programme titled 'Antar Momo' by Sheikh Hakim was held on Sunday evening at Shoukat Osman Memorial Auditorium at the Central Public Library in Shahbag. The programme was arranged by the recitation organisation called Dhrupodi.
The vice chancellor of the Dhaka University AAMS Arefin Siddique was present as chief guest at the programme.
The director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Kamal Lohani, and noted recitation artist Shimul Mustafa, among others, were present at the programme.
AAMS Arefin Siddique with other guests unveiled the new CD of recitation titled 'Ichche Chilo' by Sheikh Hakim.
AAMS Arefin Siddique said 'healthy culture is very important for a nation.
A country's development depends on its healthy cultural activities. Culture develops a person's dignity.'
He hoped that Dhrupodi would play an important role by teaching correct pronunciations of Bangla. He further wished the success of Dhrupodi.
Sheikh Hakim started the recitation with Tagore's poem 'Antar Momo'.
The other Poems included Sunil Gangapadhyaya's 'Kew katha rakheni', Jibananda Das' 'Aat bachhar ager ekdin', and Nirmalendu Goon's 'Shadhinata ei shwabdati'.
A large audience enjoyed the programme. When the artiste was moving from one poem to another the audience became nostalgic.
Sheikh Hakim is the current president of the 'Dhrupodi'. Before this, he performed in many
programmes.
He has been practicing recitation since 1990. Abdul Aziz Tipu directed the programme while Pulok Borua worked for sound system and Shajahan Shovon for lighting.
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Aham Tamasaya staged
Rahad Abir
The theatre group Mahakal Natya Sampradaya staged its 24th production with the play 'Aham Tamasaya' at the Experimental Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city's Segunbagicha area on Sunday.
Scripted by Anan Zaman, the play is directed by Azad Abul Kalam.
'Aham Tamasaya' is a play of dark times. The title of the play tells the theme of the story-where dark, evil are the forces in power. Rohel Mridha, the central character in the play is a god of evil power. He is cruel and his power of doing evil knows no bound. From his birth to death he lives in the world of lie, oppression, killing, raping, brutality, sensual enjoyment and so on.. He is a man against the truth and all good works. He makes a kingdom of sin along with his fellow men. On this earth he is unique like god; there is no body as powerful as him. But in this world man is not immortal. Though Rohel lives in a kingdom of consumption, throughout life messengers of death chases him. And one day Rohel shall have to taste death.
But what are the reasons behind making Rohel as he is? He is not an entity outside this world. He is a result of this ruined, spoiled world. He is a symbolic character who represents all the evils of mankind. The playwright has developed this character with a skilful hand. There is no doubt the story of the play is different and obviously it is well-knitted. And the interesting thing is, there are three Rohels who play the character of Rohel in his different age-young, teenage and old. The sad truth is that performance of the actors and the only female character couldn't draw the attention of the audience. The only exception being the three Rohels.
Mir Zahid Hasan played the leading role Rohel while Ferdous Ikram and Zunayed Parvez performed the characters of young and teenage Rohel respectively. Fayez Zahir has designed the set and has done lighting while Abu Bakar Siddiq has composed the background music.
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Piano recital held
Arif Mahmud
The Goethe-Institut Bangladesh organised a piano recital programme on Saturday in its auditorium in Dhanmondi. Ten young pianists Shinjini, Tahseen, Salman, Suvashish, Kawshik, Rehnuma, Aveen, Oeshwik, Jamseed and Shonchoy delighted the audience by their performance.
They played music pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and German folk. They also recited from Tagore and Western classical piano pieces.
The programme started with the performance by Shinjini. She played five numbers including 'Scarbororough Fair', 'Polly Wolly Doodle', 'Lullaby', 'Chant Arabe' and 'On Parade'. Then Tasheen came with German folk. Jamseed Atik played 'Waltz - Charles Gounod Allegretto', 'Beyer - Allegretto' and the Tagore song 'Alo amar alo'.
Aveen played 'Areatte-Mozert' while Rehnuma played 'Prelude- J.S Bach' and Shonchoy played 'Beyer- Allegretto'. Oeshwik played 'Sonata in F-Beethoven' and 'Minuet in G-Mozert'. As a response to the request of his students Shirajus Salekin recited the theme song of the film 'Love Story'. He also recited Tagore's 'Amaro parano jaha chay' and a piece of Frederick Khoualau.
Shirajus Salekin, the piano teacher of the Goethe-Institut Dhaka said, 'the artistes of the programme are new with the piano. They take it cordially and perform well.
They felt nervous in front of the audience. I am trying to make them easy by arranging such programme.' The audience were
captivated by the recital of one after another piano pieces.
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Riyadh goes to the movies for
the first time
Agence France-Presse . Riyadh
They only had a few hours' notice, but a few hundred Saudis braved a small band of religious hardliners to take part in a historic event on Saturday night: the first public showing of a commercial film in decades in the Saudi capital.
With bags of salty popcorn and soft drinks in their laps, the men-only crowd of more than 300 in Riyadh's huge King Fahd Cultural Centre cheered, whistled and clapped when the first scenes of the Saudi-made 'Menahi' hit the screen and the film's score erupted in surround sound.
'This is the beginning of change,' said university student Ahmed al-Mokayed, attending with his brother and cousin.
Businessman Abdul Mohsen al-Mani, who brought his two sons to the film, was ecstatic, after being denied public cinema for some three decades. 'This is the first step in a peaceful revolution,' he told AFP. 'I don't want my two sons to grow up in the dark ... I told them that in the future they will talk about today like a joke,' he added.
It was long in coming - and no one is certain that it will launch a thriving public cinema industry, with strident opposition from clerics who regard film, music and other entertainment as violating Islamic teachings.
Police at the venue had to fend off a small band of conservative Muslims who warned that films were bringing disasters on the country, citing a recent series of minor earthquakes in western Saudi Arabia.
'Allah is punishing us for the cinema,' one said. 'It is against Islam.' 'Menahi', a comedy about a Saudi country bumpkin getting lost in the big city, was shown in December to huge crowds in the relatively free-wheeling Red Sea city of Jeddah.
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