Bollywood songs, Sufi, jazz, blues and rock n’ roll are nothing new to us. Many of us have grown up listening to them. We’ve also listened to French songs during the last International Music Week organized by Alliance Francaise, [break]We have seen Chinese perform and we love our own music. Now it’s time to listen to some Bangla songs performed live by a promising troupe of Bangladesh. As many believe that music is a common language and it has nothing to do with geographical barriers, the music buffs of the tinsel town will get to enjoy some unique numbers and acts of Bangladesh on July 26, at the Nepal Academy Hall in Kamaladi. The event is being organized by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Nepal.
About Prachyanat
In 1997, a handful of young theatre enthusiasts floated a new theatre group with the name Prachyanat. Their dynamism and daringness induced the group to come up with new areas of activity.
However, from the very outset, these youthful dreamers wanted that this new group should not become a mere addition in the already crowded theatre scenario of Dhaka. As a result of the tireless efforts of the members of Prachyanat, many of its dreams have now flowered into reality.
Scarcity of flowers and garlands during Tihar
The Theatre in the Open, Prachyanat for Children, Theatre–lab Production, Prachyanat Research Cell, and the Musical Ensemble are all parts of the group’s creative approach. Besides producing six successful plays by some of the foremost professionals of the country, another crowning success of Prachyanat is the establishment of Prachyanat School of Acting and Design in the year 2001. The school, the second of its kind in the country, has successfully run four 6-month courses while its 18th batch is already underway.
This young theatre group did not have to wait for long before institutional recognition came its way. Within two years of its existence, Prachyanat was allowed the distinction of being the best theatre group for the year 1999. Awards and other distinctions were quick to follow – such as The Best Theatre Group, The Best Play of the Year, The Best Light Design. Prachyanat also worked with Royal Danish Theatre in Denmark, traveled to cities of Japan with the five-country joint production Babarnama, and several festivals in India, and the World Sufi Music Festival in Scotland.
At present with more than 100 theatre activists, Prachyanat is the most popular theatre troupe of Bangladesh. Its future plan includes a fully equipped theatre centre that will become a hub of all its theatre activities.
Their music ensembles
Music is synonymous with theater. The innermost desire of the people of rural Bangla is to enjoy not only theater but also music, and to go to distant places to enjoy musical shows.
The music of Prachyanat is a kind of theater. It is a theater of music. The music ensemble of Prachyanat is a natural accompaniment to the music that pumps in the vein of Bangla Theater.
It’s not a rigid practice or a fixed arrangement, but rather casual humming in a get-together of friends that pave the way to spontaneous music sessions wrapped in smoke of incense and blowing of an ox horn. The trials and tribulations of the people from the distant past to the mechanical present day dissolve effortlessly from their consciousness as they keep singing and clapping their hands.
A love for the tradition of apprenticeship and immersing into the stream of spiritualism make them ecstatic. They follow the footsteps of hermits coming from faraway lands – starting from the watery lands of East Bengal to Bardhaman, Nodia and Purulia.
Their scattered thoughts take concrete shapes and they stand up holding the ektaara (a one-stringed instrument) high in their hands. The mystic bird comes flying and takes refuge on the string of the ektaara.
