Bangla songs from the era of Shakta Padabali to the contemporary time were performed by celebrated artistes from Bangladesh and India in the two-day long music festival.
Modern Bangla song artist Rafiqul Alam, also an artist of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, performed “Debona amar mather sabuj aar”, a song aired during the Liberation War to inspire the Freedom Fighters.
Celebrated artist Khairul Anam Shakil, also a part time teacher of Music Department, performed a popular Nazrul song and a folk song.
Before performing, prominent Bangladeshi artist Ferdous Ara said music flows through generation to generation and will remain forever.
A creative composition that captivated the audiences, a musical chart and depiction from the era of Charya Pada to the present time, was presented by teachers and students of Music Department.
“We did not get much opportunity as the present generation enjoying in practicing art and music,” said celebrated singer Hasina Mumtaz adding that they perform better than we do.
On the concluding day of the festival, Bangladeshi celebrated artistes Syed Abdul Hadi, Pradeep Kumar Nandi along with teachers, students of the department as well as two Bangladeshi bands also performed at the programme.
Before the evening session, experts took part in a discussion on the situation of music in institutional education, its success, contemporary crisis and plan to overcome those issues.
With the theme ‘Bangla Gaan’ (Bangla Songs), teachers and students of music department started the celebration Tuesday.
A colourful procession was brought out from the Arts Faculty building. DU Vice-Chancellor Prof M Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the festival at TSC while Professor Emeritus Dr Rafiqul Islam and Pro-VC Dr Nasreen Ahmad, among others, were present as special guests.
The festival was co-sponsored by Diamond World and ABMT. United News of Bangladesh (UNB) was the media partner of the event.
In 1993, a subsidiary course on music was introduced directly under the supervision of Dean, Faculty of Arts, Dhaka University. A similar course on theatre was introduced in 1989, also under the Dean, Faculty of Arts.
Both of these separate units were brought under a single departmental administration on August 1, 1994 and named as the Department of Theatre and Music.
In 1995, the department introduced two MA programmes – one on music and another on theatre. In 1998, the Department of Music introduced four-year honours and one-year Master’s degree course on classical, folk, Tagore, Nazrul songs and instrumentals. MPhil and PhD degrees were also included and started from 2000.
In 2009, the Music Department started its journey as an individual department.
Currently, over 250 students are studying for Honours and Master’s degrees on Tagore, Nazrul and folk songs, and classical music.