Cultural programme celebrating gono-sangeet artiste Fakir Alamgir’s birthday

A cultural programme to celebrate gono-sangeet artiste Fakir Alamgir’s 60th birthday was held at the Bangladesh Shishu Academy auditorium Thursday evening. Organised by cultural organisation Amra Suryamukhi, the programme featured poetry recitation, songs, dances and a dance drama.

Chairman of the Privatisation Commission, Mirza Abdul Jalil inaugurated the programme chaired by noted litterateur Syed Shamsul Haque and attended, among others, by educationist professor Serajul Islam Chowdhury and noted theatre personality Mamunur Rashid. The speakers at the programme lauded the role of Fakir Alamgir in upholding the rights of the oppressed through gono sangeet for over the last more than 40 years.

Mirza Abdul Jalil, in his inaugural speech, said that the trend of gono sangeet had contributed immensely to all the progressive movements in the country. Serajul Islam Chowdhury emphasised the role of the folk music in checking the unhindered influx of foreign art forms and their capitalistic ideals.

The cultural programme began with a group dance performance by Surbihar Sangeet Bidyalay and was followed by solo song presentations and poetry recitations. Anima Ray rendered Tagore songs while Rumana Islam and Razia Sultana, among others, presented modern songs at the programme. Fakir Shahabuddin and Borhan Uddin rendered folk songs and Rafiqul Islam presented a recitation of Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Parichay’.

The programme ended with a mesmerising performance of a dance drama by Kolkata-based dance troupe Kalabharati Nrityadal.