Bravo Bengal Foundation

We would like to congratulate the Bengal Foundation, its chair, executive director and its team, for a magnificent job accomplished. The level of performance, the meticulous organisation and the beautiful and tasteful setting together made the Classical Music Festival perhaps the best of its kind in the world. 

A lot needs to be said about the nearly 50,000 listeners who thronged the army stadium for the last five nights for more than ten hours a day, and listened with rapt attention and discipline to the music legends, prompting some of them to say that they had never before seen such a huge and appreciative audience anywhere else, proving, once again, the quality of the Dhaka audience. 

Some words of thanks are also due to our law enforcement agencies who spared no effort to make the festival trouble free. The volunteers – young, eager and highly trained – did a wonderful job.

The festival is a fitting reply to those fringe elements in society who have sought, albeit vainly, to portray Bangladesh as a country infested with religious terrorists. The five-day event is a celebration of more than just music; the massive turnout of people goes to prove that we will not cow down to attacks on our culture and identity. The enthusiasm generated by the Classical Music Festival as well as the jazz, folk and literary festivals that have taken place preceding it indicates a vibrant, pluralistic nation that will not be intimidated by cowardly acts of terror.