| Bengal-ITC SRA Classical Music Festival | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | South Asian classical music |
| Dates | November |
| Location(s) | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Patron(s) | Bengal Foundation, ITC Sangeet Research Academy |
| Website | bengalfoundation |
The Bengal-ITC SRA Classical Music Festival is a major South Asian classical music festival held in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is one of the world's largest music festivals devoted to South Asian classical music and draws leading musicians from Bangladesh and India. [1] [2]
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 163 million people, in an area of 147,570 square kilometres (56,980 sq mi), making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, Myanmar to the southeast, and the Bay of Bengal to the south. It is narrowly separated from Nepal and Bhutan by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by Sikkim, in the north, respectively. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's economic, political, and cultural hub. Chittagong, the largest seaport, is the second-largest city.
Bengal is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region located in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predominantly covering present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. Geographically, it is made up by the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta system, the largest such formation in the world; along with mountains in its north bordering the Himalayan states of Nepal and Bhutan and east bordering Myanmar.
Dhaka (ঢাকা), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and the largest city of Bangladesh. It is the ninth-largest and the sixth-most densely populous city in the world, with a population of 8.9 million residents within the city limits, and a population of over 21 million residents in the Greater Dhaka Area. Dhaka is the economic, political, and cultural center of Bangladesh, and is one of the major cities in South Asia, the largest city in Eastern South Asia and among the Bay of Bengal countries; and one of the largest cities among OIC countries. As part of the Bengal plain, the city is bounded by the Buriganga River, Turag River, Dhaleshwari River and Shitalakshya River.
Pahela Baishakh or Poila Baishak is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 14/15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam by Bengalis regardless of religious faith.
The music of West Bengal includes multiple indigenous musical genres such as Baul, Ramprasadi, Bishnupuri Classical, Kirtan, Shyama Sangeet, Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Geeti, Dwijendrageeti, Prabhat Samgiita, Agamani-Vijaya, Patua Sangeet, Gambhira, Bhatiali, Bhawaiya, Bengali Rock.
Tareque Masud was a Bangladeshi independent film director, film producer, screenwriter and lyricist. He first found success with the films Muktir Gaan (1995) and Matir Moina (2002), for which he won three international awards, including the International Critics' FIPRESCI Prize, in the Directors' Fortnight section outside competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The film became Bangladesh's first film to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Bengalis or Bangalis, also rendered as the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Bengal region in South Asia. The population is divided between the independent country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley. Most of them speak Bengali, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. The term "Bangalee" is also used to denote people of Bangladesh as a nation.
Ustad Rashid Khan is an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani music tradition. He belongs to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, and is the great-grandson of gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan. He is married to Soma Khan.
Dacca or Dhaka is the capital and one of the oldest cities of Bangladesh. The history of Dhaka begins with the existence of urbanised settlements in the area that is now Dhaka dating from the 7th century CE. The city area was ruled by the Buddhist Pala Empire before passing to the control of the Sena dynasty in the 9th century CE. After the Sena dynasty, Dhaka was successively ruled by the Turkic and Afghan governors descending from the Delhi Sultanate, followed by the Bengal Sultanate, before the arrival of the Mughals in 1608. The city became proto-industrialised and declared capital of the Mughal Bengal. After Mughals, British ruled the region for 200 years until the independence of India. In 1947, Dhaka became the capital of the East Bengal province under the Dominion of Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Dhaka became the capital of the new state.
The culture of Bengal defines the cultural heritage of the Bengali people native to eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, mainly what is today Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley, where the Bengali language is the official and primary language. Bengal has a recorded history of 1,400 years. The Bengali people are its dominant ethnolinguistic tribe. The region has been a historical melting point, blending indigenous traditions with cosmopolitan influences from pan-Indian subcontinental empires. Bengal was considered to be the richest part of Islamic medieval India and during the era of the Bengal Sultanate it was described to be a major trading nation in the world, while during Mughal times, having triggered the proto-industrialization, its economy was worth 12% of global GDP. As a part of the Bengal Presidency, it also hosted the region's most advanced political and cultural centers during British rule.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Bangladesh:
Cricket is the most popular sport in Bangladesh. There is a strong domestic league which on many occasions also saw Test players from many countries gracing the cricket fields of Bangladesh. In the year 2000 Bangladesh became a full member of the International Cricket Council, which allows the national team to play Test cricket. The Bangladesh national cricket team goes by the nickname of the Tigers – after the Royal Bengal Tiger. At present among the most popular cricket players in Bangladesh are Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Becoming champion in the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup is the country's biggest cricketing achievement.
ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan is an annual Indian classical music festival organised by ITC Sangeet Research Academy held by turn in various cities in India.
Kazi Khaleed Ashraf is a Bangladeshi architect, urbanist and architectural historian. Writing from the intersection of architecture, landscape and the city, Ashraf has authored books and essays on architecture in India and Bangladesh, the work of Louis Kahn, and the city of Dhaka. His various writings on the architecture of Bangladesh have provided a theoretical ground for understanding both the historical and contemporary forms of architecture, while his written and design work on Dhaka advances that city as a "theorem" for understanding urbanism in a deltaic geography. Ashraf and contributing team received the Pierre Vago Journalism Award from the International Committee of Architectural Critics for the Architectural Design publication Made in India. He has also co-authored a number of publications with the architect Saif Ul Haque. Ashraf has recently established an international publication series called Locations: Anthology of Architecture and Urbanism that will present works and features from around the globe.
Bengali Muslims are an ethnic, linguistic and religious population who make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens and the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. They are Bengalis who adhere to Islam and speak the Bengali language. They form the largest Bengali and the second largest Muslim ethnic group in the world.
Pandit Kushal Das, born in Kolkata in 1959, is an Indian classical sitar and surbahar player.
Nandini Shankar is an Indian violinist who performs Hindustani classical music and fusion. She is the daughter of Sangeeta Shankar and granddaughter of N. Rajam.
Dhaka is the most populous city of Bangladesh and is characterized by its busy urban life with vibrant and versatile culture including many festivities, variety of cuisine, entertainment industry, shopping experience and sites of interests.
Sahana Bajpaie is a Bengali singer-songwriter from Santiniketan and one of the most prominent contemporary Rabindra Sangeet vocalists in West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. By the age of 13, she started singing. In 2007, she released her debut album Notun Kore Pabo Bole, which was a collection of Rabindra Sangeet. In 2014, she released her second solo album Shikawr, with several musicians from West Bengal. Sahana's second Rabindra Sangeet album Ja Bolo Tai Bolo was released in 2015 and the latest solo album, Mon Bandhibi Kemone in 2016.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bengal-ITC SRA Classical Music Festival . |