Chhayanaut's Shuddha Sangeet Utshab begins today

Chhayanaut's two-day Shuddha Sangeet Utshab, featuring vocal and instrumental music, begins today at 5:30pm at its main auditorium in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. The annual festival comprising two sessions will end on December 23 morning.

The tenth edition of the festival will be formally inaugurated by noted music exponent and Guru Manjusree Roy Choudhury [of Rajshahi] as chief guest.  

The programme will begin with the lighting of candles as a symbol of diffusing knowledge, followed by a short inaugural ceremony by the organisers along with a choral performance by the artistes of Chhayanaut. The festival aims to fulfil the desire of music lovers for events dedicated to classical music and to inspire the practice of the genre in Bangladesh.

Noted and promising vocalists -- Satindranath Halder, Anil Kumar Saha, Khairul Anam Shakil and Diptee Samadder Dipu along with and instrumentalists -- Ebadul Huq Shaikat (sitar) and Sheuli Bhattacharjee (violin) will perform on the opening day of the festival.

The nightlong second session of the festival will start at 6pm and continue till the next morning. Besides group vocal and instrumental performances by Chhayanaut artistes, noted and upcoming vocalists and instrumentalists -- Shekhar Mondol, Rezwan Ali Lablu, Asit Dey, Asit Roy, Jagodananda Roy, Bizon Chandra Mistry, Shrabanti Dhar, Supriya Das, Abhijit Kundu, Bipul Kumar and Tasaouf Islam will perform vocal music. Md. Moniruzzaman (flute), Murtaza Kabir Murad (flute), Dolon Kanungo (mohonveena), Nishit Dey (sitar) and Proshanta Bhowmik (tabla) will present instrumental recitals in the session.