Bahwaiya Music Awards at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

A total of 40 contestants from across the country participated at the workshop, conducted by Bhawaiya researcher Nurul Islam Zahid and noted singer Nadira Begum. Cultural affairs ministry joint-secretary Humayun Kabir Khan attended the concluding session and handed over certificates among the participants. Nurul Islam and Nadira Begum, among others, spoke on the occasion with Bikash Kishore Das in the chair. The academy held the workshop for the first time with a view to inspiring the artistes to perform this popular genre of north Bengal folk song on a regular basis.
“There is no alternative to training on bhawaiya. If we fail to organise training on bhawaiya, this genre of music will be lost”, said Zahid who have composed more than 3500 bhawaiya songs. According to Banglapedia, bhawaiya believed to have originated in Rangpur and Cooch Bihar, India. The name of this folk song, generally about love between man and woman, derives from bhava (emotion). Bhawaiya songs, however, may also be spiritual in theme as in “fande pariya baga kande re” (The heron cries entrapped in a net), “chhar re man bhaver khela” (O my mind, leave earthly games), etc.
The ceremony was followed by a bhawaiya evening with the participation of the participants. Safiul Alam Raza, Inam Ahmed, Maria Munni, Anima Mukti Gomez, Azad Hossain, Mahiduzzaman Shamim, Ashutosh Adhikari, among others, performed bhawaiya songs, including Ore o nidhaar bandhugan, Kon kon shona mukhe katha, Jayna buri durantar, Bhaber chhale majailey.

More Bhawaiya programmes are needed to be organised to make this genre of music popular among the city dwellers, said the speakers at the concluding session of a 15-day workshop on Bahwaiya at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka on Sunday.