& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Proverbial birds of a feather at BCMF '13

Fahmim Ferdous
Near the end of her performance on Day 2 of the Bengal Glassical Music Festival 2013, celebrity Bharatnatyam artiste Vidushi Alarmel Valli heartily praised the Dhaka audience, saying that clas- § sical music harmonises people, d and she was overjoyed to see so Q many people attending the festi- g val. z
As the grand celebration of $ classical music gathered momen- g turn on its second day, a picture 5 began to emerge clearer: it o
brought tasteful people close °-
together.
There is one big difference of this concert with others. At rock or pop concerts, people usually go in big groups of friends who usually stick together the whole time; the multiplicity factor, in a way, enhances the experience. Here, however, many people came by themselves or in groups of two or three, but found many others from their various social circles. And however close or distant they were outside the stadium, the one factor - taste for good music -brought them together inside; at the seating area, or the dining zone, and even in the galleries far back. People of various ages and professions seamlessly unified, and discussed what was going on onstage.
This year's amped-up turnout at the festival (organisers gave a 32,000-strong attendance count for Day 3 of the festival) owed largely to the youth, for many of whom this was a course in "Intro to Glassical Music". They had heard the names of a few of the
artistes, most notably the iconic Pandit Hariprasad Ghaurasia or Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, and could possibly recognise some of the other artistes by reference to their 'popular' film-related works, like Ustad Rashid Khan and Bombay Jayashri. But they watched in marvel as the artistes created an ambiance and swung their moods with their ragas, and fervently expressed their feelings to anyone who would listen. With smartphones and internet access at everyone's palms, Google and
Wikipedia searches of artistes, instruments and even the ragas and terms the artistes used were a common scene. The social media also buzzed with the flavour of the festival, with people posting photos, status updates, tweets and Instagram posts of their perception of the festival and performances. The online connectivity also facilitated people to find who else they knew were at the festival, and to catch up on them.
Bengal Group chairman Abul Khair, in a recent interview with this correspondent, had said his ultimate aim was to bring about a silent cultural revolution. It can be safely said that his plans have made unexpected progress; he took a challenge of impacting the people of the county (the capital at least, for starters) with the purest forms of performing arts, and he has achieved it. But more importantly, he has brought the people who could potentially contribute to that revolution inside one big arena, congregated them, and let them unify into what could one day be a culturally educated, discerning generation.