No more uncertainty, Bengal Classical Music Festival December 26-30
Registration of sixth edition starts from Dec 18
Overcoming all sorts of uncertainties as well as completing all necessary steps to make the event successful like the previous editions, the five-day ‘Bengal Classical Music Festival 2017’ (BCMF) is finally set to be held from December 26 to 30. The sixth edition of the mega event, which has already grabbed the attention across the globe for bringing a huge number of internationally-famed music artistes on a single platform, will be taking place in the Abahani Field, Dhanmondi in the capital.
Expressing gratitude to the Prime Minister, Abul Khair said, “There was uncertainty over the festival. The festival is finally going to be held with everyone’s support and insightful consideration of Prime Minister. We are very happy. We thank the government for standing beside us. I hope the Bengal Classical Music Festival will be more pleasurable this time.”Presented by Square and supported by BRAC Bank, this year’s BCMF has been dedicated to Professor Dr Anisuzzaman. To disclose detailed information about the festival, a press conference was organised at the Westin Dhaka in the capital yesterday. Bengal Foundation Chairman Abul Khair Litu, Bengal Foundation Director General Luva Nahid Chowdhury, Square Group Director Anjan Chowdhury and BRAC Bank Senior Vice President and Head of Communications Zara Jabeen Mahbub were present and spoke at the press meet.
He also expressed his gratitude to Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith and Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor as well as to all partners and well-wishers of the festival.
Anjan Chowdhury said, “After all this incident, ‘Bengal Classical Music Festival’ is taking place. I am not only happy, I am more than happy. The Folk Music Fest we arrange, I have been actually inspired by him (Abul Khair). I hope he will always keep Square Group with the event, as long as the classical music festival will be taking place in Bangladesh. I wish the festival a grand success.”
Beginning at 7 o’clock in the evening, the festival will be continued till 5am every day. The entry gate will be closed at 12am while one cannot make a re-entry to the venue after coming out once. Organisers informed that special software will be used to control the sound avoid spreading noise throughout the residential area.
Like the previous years, entry pass can be collected free of cost through online registration at www.bengalclassicalmusicfest.com. The registration will be conducted for a short period of time that will begin on December 18. Those who will fail to complete online registration process, they will be given an opportunity for direct registration at Gyan Taposh Bidyapith (House 60, Road 7/A, Dhanmondi) and Bengal Centre (Airport Road, Khilkhet).
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith will be present as chief guest in the inaugural ceremony, while Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Member of the Parliament Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Abahani Limited Chairman Salman F Rahman, Square Group Director Anjan Chowdhury will attend the event as special guests.
To attend the festival this year, the internationally-reputed artistes who are coming to Dhaka—Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj (Khayal), Grammy winning (1993) Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena), Grammy-nominated Vidushi Kala Ramnath (Violin), first Grammy winner from South-Asia Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram (Ghatam & Kanjeera), eminent dance artiste Vidushi Sujata Mohapatra (Odissi), Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee (Sitar), Pandit Kaivalyakumar (Khayal), Saskia Rao de-Haas (Cello), Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company (Kathak), Vidushi Padma Talwalkar (Khayal), Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar (Sarod), Dr Mysore Manjunath (Violin), Pandit Ronu Majumdar (Flute), Pandit Kushal Das (Sitar), Pandit Debojyoti Bose (Sarod), Rakesh Chaurasia (Flute), Purbayan Chatterjee (Sitar), Rajrupa Chowdhury (Sarod), Abir Hossain (Sarod), Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor), Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute), Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty (Khayal), Ustad Rashid Khan (Khayal), Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar (Khayal) and Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan (Sitar).
The partners of the festival include—Media partner Channel i, medical partner Square Hospital, event management partner Blues Communications and co-organisers Index Group, Bengal Digital, Bengal Boi and Bengal Parampara Sangeetalaya. Besides, Bengal Harmony of Singapore is giving overall assistance to the five-day event.