By IANS
Dhaka : Music lovers from Bangladesh and India celebrated the grand finale of a musical series “Shotoborsher Bangla Gaan” by presenting a bouquet of 33 songs including romantic, patriotic and modern numbers.
Taking Bengali songs from 1905 to 2005, Bangladeshi singers performed songs of the century’s greats from Rabindranath Tagore and Qazi Nazrul Islam to latter day Salil Chowdhury and Manna Dey, at the musical soiree organised Friday by the HSBC Bank.
This was the finale of the series on a century of Bangla songs held over the past two years. About 1400 guests, including the crème of the cultural and social scene, attended the musical extravaganza.
Top artistes from Bangladesh and West Bengal sang a total of 33 songs on divinity, nature, romance, patriotism, as well as modern songs.
The performers included well-known names like Abdul Jabbar, Sabina Yasmin, Runa Laila, Shahanaz Rahmatullah, Hoimonti Shukla, Srikanto Acharjee, Mitali Mukherjee and Mita Haque. They are quite popular in both the nations.
Dilruba Khan, Laisa Ahmed Lisa, Anup Barua, Mahiuzzaman Maina, Farhana Akhter Shirley, Zahir Alim and Ronti Das also sang at the function.
Mohammed Mahbub-ur-Rahman, corporate banking head of HSBC, said that the original initiative had been taken to celebrate the centennial of Bangladesh’s national anthem, “Aamar Sonar Bangla”, which Tagore composed in 1905.
Rahman said West Bengal’s contribution to Bangla music is undeniable, and it is only fitting that the two coubtries should unite on a common platform to celebrate the golden era of Bangla music.
Noted researcher and music exponent Karunamaya Goswami applauded the endeavour.
“Only by remembering and celebrating the past can the future generation learn from their predecessors and find their direction,” he said.
The lyricists whose works were covered include Rabindranath Tagore, D.L. Roy, Rajanikanta Sen, Atulprasad Sen, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Premendra Mitra, Salil Chaudhary, Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Mukul Chowdhury, Jatileshwar Mukherjee, Gouriproshonno Majumder, Anisul Haque Chowdhury, Pulok Bondhopadhyay, Gazi Mazharul Anwar, Khan Ataur Rahman, Abul Umra Mohammed Fakruddin, Masud Karim, Gobindo Haldar, Muhammad Rafikuzzaman, Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, Nazrul Islam Babu, Pradip Mukherjee, Lilamoi Patro and Kingshuk Chattapadhyay.
The compositions were of Rabindranath Tagore, D.L. Roy, Rajanikanta Sen, Atulprasad Sen, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Komol Das Gupto, Salil Chaudhary, Abdul Ahad, Raja Hussain Khan, Hemanto Mukhopadhyay, Jotileshor Mukherjee, Shatinath Mukhopadhyay, Satya Saha, Shubol Das, Khan Ataur Rahman, Alauddin Ali, Manna Dey, Anup Bhattacharya, Azad Rahman, Anwar Pervez and Muhammad Shahnawaz.