The New Nation - Internet Edition

Raibeshe demonstration at Natmondol

Dance artistes demonstrate Raibeshe at Natmondol
Auditorium of Dhaka University on Tuesday

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

Shadhona, a centre working for the development of South Asian music and dance, organised a demonstration of 'Raibeshe' and other folk dances of the Bengal at Natmondol of Dhaka University on December 29.

'Raibeshe' is a popular folk dance especially in Medinipur district in West Bengal in India.

Recently Dance and Music Training Centre of the Indian High Commission in support with Shadhona organised a joint workshop on 'Raibeshe-martial art dance' in Dhaka. Sutopa and Dr Tarun Pradhan of Sarabhuj, an international dance theatre troupe folklore research institute, conducted the workshop. The demonstration was held by the participants of a 10-day workshop on 'Raibeshe' and other folk dance forms of Bengal.

Participants of the workshop along with dance artistes of Shadhona presented 'Raibeshe' dance at the Natmondal Auditorium of Dhaka University. 'Raibeshe' is a martial art form of Bengal and means 'Royal Bamboo'. This is a martial art that was used by 'lathiyals' who used to be used by feudal lords to defend their little fiefdoms. Gurushodoi Dutta, an IAS officer, first documented it in the last century, who came across this art form in Birbhum in West Bengal in India. He collected the 'Bolbani' of 'Raibeshe' from East Bengal. The other dance forms that were performed during the demonstration were 'Paik' which was another martial dance and 'Pata-nach' which was danced by womenfolk and was named after the ceremony called 'Shoi-patano' or bonding with girl friends.

The participants also demonstrated a dance based on 'lathi' and 'dhal' (stick and shield) used in 'lathikhela' across Bangladesh, which was taught to them by actual 'lathiyaals'.

Shadhona has been working for advancement of the South Asian dance and music. Eminent dance artiste and General Secretary of Shadhona Lubna Mariam said, "The long-term objectives of Shadhona include workshops and lecture-demonstrations on dance, music and theatre with the aim of increasing an awareness and appreciation of our cultural heritage. In this era of highly concentrated audio-visual exposure from various sources, it is easy to comprehend the decline of the classical and folk forms of performances due to a lack of proper awareness and training."

'Shadhona' appeals to all music lovers to lend a helping hand in restoring the glory of performing arts in Bangladesh. A recent addition to Shadhona's list of objectives is the promotion of Indian Philosophy, Aesthetics in particular, contextual to the present social reality in South Asia. The organisation has also been organising classical music concerts for several years, both for increasing an awareness of the music and for fund-raising, she added.

Cartoon exhibitions at Drik Gallery

Art & Culture Report

A weeklong two cartoon exhibitions were held at Drik Gallery at Dhanmondi in the city recently. One included cartoons on the Liberation War published in newspapers worldwide in 1971 and the other was a compilation of works from a retrospective of Abu Abraham, works of five Nepali cartoonists reflecting the dynamic political changes that have taken place in their country in the last 10 years and award-winning sketches from the South Asian Cartoon Competition organised by Himal.

Unmad, a Bangladeshi satirical magazine and Drik jointly organised the exhibition titled 'Liberation War in Cartoons. The show featured cartoons published in local (the then East Pakistan) and international newspapers on the war that involved West and East Pakistan and India.

Lt Col (Rtd) Sazzad Zahir inaugurated the exhibitions as chief guest on December 22. The exhibition based on the works of the War of Independence and South Asia Cartoon Congress. The exhibition featured works on the heinous activities like mass killing, raping and looting of the Pakistani Army and their associates during the Liberation War in 1971.

Some 74 cartoons were on display at the exhibition, which were taken from the publication 'Liberation War in Mass Media.' Cartoon collector Reaz Ahmed has collected and preserved these sketches from a book featuring 345 cartoons, said the organisers.

There were 58 cartoons in the other show at the same gallery on the distance between powerful and powerless by Basu Kshitij, Vatsayan, Abin Shrestha, Rabin Sayami and Abu Abraham. Works of Abraham were a testament of his fearlessness, perceptiveness and mastery of critical humour. These illustrations reflected the crucial political events that were taking place not only in India but throughout the South Asia from the 1971 Bangladesh's war of independence, the 1975-77 Indian emergency, the 1979 hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi, the mysterious death of Zia ul-Huq in an air plane crash in 1988, to the controversial Indian peace-keeping force operations in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990. The exhibition ended on December 28.

New TV commercial of Banglalink

Art & Culture Desk

Last year Banglalink has talked extensively about its customer care service. They have highlighted their state of the art call centre, their vast customer care network with over 700 customer care touch points across the country as well as the quality of service provided by their customer care representatives. The customer care campaign was very successful with the positioning of 'Apnar Jonnoi Amra - Kotha Dilam!' Their next successful campaign for the year was their network campaign with the positioning 'banglalink network: annubhutir network'. Also, having invested over Tk.6,324 crore to ensure optimal network quality and coverage, Banglalink has made a difference in redefining overall quality of service in this industry.

The objective for both the campaigns was to emphasize the dedication Banglalink has in providing their customers with the best possible service. Banglalink has truly set the standards in providing customers with quality service - again they make a difference! The recently launched TV commercial talks about these achievements both in network and customer care service and how they have made a difference in the lives of their customers. The TVC has been illustrated in an innovative way to grab the attention of the viewer. Traditional puppets have been used in a debate setting with two teams - network team & customer care team. Each team argues as being the most important team and is finally placated by the judge who concludes that both teams are important and together they have made a difference.

The concept for the TVC is by Carrot Communication and director is Golam Haider Kisloo. Musician Ornob has composed the music.

Akashe agun jwaliye debot.

Art & Culture Report

Popular audio, video and music production house Laser Vision recently released second solo musical album of promising singer Dipto titled 'Akashe agun jwaliye debo' in the market.

There are nine tracks in the album. Titles of the tracks are - 1) 'Aj ei kotha dile,' 2) 'Swarno hridoy,' 3) 'Hridoy bhasiye debo,' 4) 'Akashe agun jwaliye debo,' 5) 'Meye tumi,' 6) 'Nil doriya,' 7) 'Bhoy nai,' 8) 'Ananta kuyo' and 'Ghumer majhe swaponer utpat.'

In the album, all songs were written and composed by Dipto, while both Dipto and Pavel have arranged the music. Masum was in keyboard, Tanim in bass guitar, Shahid in flute and Selim in violin. Recording and mixing of the songs of the album were held at the Bengal Music Studio.

All tracks of the album are melodious and lyrics based, which would enthralled the listeners with soft harmony. Listeners would not become monotonous while listening the album.