The country is celebrating Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bengali New Year-1430, on Friday upholding the rich cultural values and rituals of the Bangalees.
Chhayanaut began ‘The Bangla Nabobarsho festival’ welcoming the New Year at its traditional venue Ramna Batamul in the capital playing raag Ahir Bhairav on Sarangi as soon as the sun rose. After playing the raag for eight-minute, the programme of different songs started here.
This year the songs were chosen based on the themes of nature bathed in the morning’s first light, love for humanity, patriotism, self-realisation and awakening. Artistes performed solo music and recited poems in between group performances.
Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar telecast the programme live. The programme was also shown live on the YouTube channel of Chhayanaut.
Chhayanaut, an institution devoted to Bengali culture, founded in Bangladesh in 1961, organised the first ever programme welcoming the Bengali New Year in the capital in 1967. Since then Chhayanaut’s programme has become a part and parcel of Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year.
The programme could not be organised in 1971 due to the Liberation War. The continuity of the programme was not stopped even after the militants carried out a bomb attack at the programme in 2001. The programme, however, could not be organised in 2020 and 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic.
News agency BSS adds: This year, the first day of the Bangla calendar, is being celebrated following its all rituals at the venue along with bringing out the traditional ‘Mangal Shobhajatra’ (procession) organised by the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.
