Bengal Classical Music Fest 2016 starts on November 24
The fifth “Bengal Classical Music Festival” will start from November 24 at the Army Stadium. The five day long fest will continue till November 28. This festival has been dedicated to the memory of Syed Shamsul Haq. One hundred and sixty-five Bangladeshi classicists are expected to perform at the event. Sharmila Bandyapadhyay’s fusion of Tagore songs to be rendered by Nrittonandan will open the festival.
The dance recital will incorporate Bharatnatyam, Oddisci, Kathak and Monipuri dance forms. Sarode master Ustad Aashish Khan Debsharma, the grandson of famous Ustad Ali Akbar Khan will take part in the event as part of his first trip to Bangladesh. Pundit Bikram Ghosh will accompany him on the opening day on Tabla. Other Indian performers of the event will be the veteran Padma Bhushan holder Girija Devi, Dr Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Sanjeev Avhayankar, violinist Dr Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, Madhavi Mudgal with her disciple Arushi Mudgal.
Flute maestro Ranu Mazumdar and mandolin expert U Rajesh will be other instrumentalists of the festival alongside the likes of Santoor blenders Pundit Shivkumar Sharma and his son Rahul Sharma. The festivals regular participants the famed Pundits Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Rashid Khan will be present to continue their strains stunning performances they left reverberating in the year back.