Entertaining the students

Students strive hard to promote cultural activities, despite lack of facilities

The group has come up at the National level now, by acquiring the membership of the Abritti Shomonnoy Parishod--the nationwide organisation, which patronises recitation as an art form.

The group was founded on October 12, 1996. Atik Akbar was the first president of the group. The present General Secretary of Dhowni as well as the convenor of the Shommilito Shankskritik Jote Jahangirnagar Branch, Bulbul says, 'We believe that art should be people-orientated, so we have chosen recitation because in poems most of the poets deal with aspects of human life.'

Jewel the current President of the group says, 'Many renowned poets as well as renowned reciters of the country are directly involved with our organisation. Khalid Hossain, a poet, is one of our advisors. We are also in touch with poet Mohammad Rafiq. Besides, many popular reciters in the country like Kamrul Hasan Manju, Hasan Arif, Kazi Arif, Golam Sarwar and Wahidul Haq have often participated in our workshops. We also get support from our teachers like Ahmed Reza and Harun ur Rashid who are also the advisors of the group.'

To point out their achievements, Selina, an active member of the group, says, 'Usually, our programmes are subject-oriented. Poems by different poets on themes like Bangladesh in poetry, victory of the humanity, rebellion, freedom etc. are presented in these shows. We have 22 productions of this kind. Sometimes, we present popular scripts, which have already been performed by prominent reciters of Dhaka and Kolkata. We have also worked on 11 productions of poems by renowned poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibananda Das and others. We use symbolical set and light compositions on stage.'

Referring to the challenges that the students face to run a cultural organisation at the university level Mithu says, 'We contribute tk15 each every month and it is the main source of income of the group. We struggle hard to get sponsorships for arranging a festival. During the festival, we sell our publications like calendars and souvenirs.'

Amongst the new talents Falguni, Shathi and Lopa Mudra are promising. Shathi has got the potentials to express the emotion of a character in a poem through her voice modulation. Falguni has already directed a few shows.

The Dhowni members are now preparing for a festival, which will soon be held on campus.