Celebrating 35 years of friendship between Switzerland and Bangladesh, the Embassy of Switzerland in Dhaka, Switzerland-Bangladesh Business Forum (SBBF) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) jointly organised a three-day exhibition on cooperation, trade and culture at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center. The event started on November 8.

On the second day of the programme a concert was held at the venue featuring performances by popular Bangladeshi musician Habib and the Swiss band Sonalp.

Habib started with the folk song Keno piriti baraila rey amidst polite claps from the audience. He then performed a Sylheti folk song. Third in line was Amar bondhua bihoney. The audience was warming up to the energetic beats when Habib performed his hit numbers -- Din gelo and Bhalobashbo bashborey bondhu.

Habib then sang a few lines from the song Swapney tar shathey hoy dekha, from his latest album. He apologised for not being able to perform the whole song as his team was yet to pick up and synchronise their act for the new album.

Ashi boley gelo bondhu, Maya lagaise, Lokey boley, Baula ke banailo rey got the crowd in frenzy. Diplomats and members of the business community soon got over their stiff formal attitude and were singing away amidst screams of appreciation and requests for more.

To add icing to the already pulsating performance came veteran singer Ferdous Wahid on stage. He performed the romantic number Agey jodi jantam.

After Habib, Sonalp came on stage and the audience gave an equally warm welcome to the Swiss band. Sonalp blends traditional Swiss sounds with rhythms found all over the world. A bass guitar joined the voices of yodellers that mingled with the vibrations of cowbells and Alpine horn. The crowd seemed

engrossed in the Swiss fusion.

The members of the band are Guillaume, Marc, Laurent, John, Remy, Chris, Vincent and Fred. Their manager is Aldo. Sonalp change de cremerie (Sonalp spreads and shares) is their second album and they are soon releasing their third. They performed the numbers Wiesel, Naalp, Biennoise and a few more.

The band members shared their joy at being invited to perform in Bangladesh. In their words: “We are very happy being able to visit Bangladesh. This was a unique opportunity for us as tourism is limited here. Generally foreign bands visit India but coming to Bangladesh was a good choice. Such events should happen more. The people are very open, hospitable and seem to have a passion for life. We would like to thank Sudipta Choudhury for making our trip easier and pleasant. We would love to visit Bangladesh again.”

The festival ended yesterday. The Daily Star was the media partner of the festival.