Celebrating the 119th birth anniversary of the Rebel Poet (Bidrohi Kobi) Kazi Nazrul Islam, Nazrul Institute organised a cultural programme yesterday at its auditorium in the capital.

Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Cultural Affairs Ministry Simeen Hussain Rimi attended the programme as chief guest, while Poet Muhammad Nurul Huda and President of Chhayanaut (Kolkata) Somerita Mallik were present as special guests. Presided over by Nazrul Institute’s executive director Abdur Razzaq Bhuiyan, Professor Soumitra Sekhar of Dhaka University attended the discussant event as discussant.

At the event, guests unveiled the cover of an audio album titled ‘Iti Nazrul’. Planned and directed by Kolkata-based Nazrul singer Somerita Mallik, the album featured 57 letters of Kazi Nazrul Islam. A number of 41 artistes from two Bengals lent their vocals to the album. The album includes local Nazrul Sangeet artistes Nashid Kamal, Shimul Mustafa, Rupa Chakraborty, Farzana Karim, Nasima Khan Bokul, Bulbul Mohalanbish, Dilruba Khanom among others. Besides, Kolkata-based artistes such Nazrul’s daughter-in-law Kalyani Kazi, Pradip Ghosh, Debashis Bose and Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta, among others, have been featured in the album.

The album will also be released at Nazrul Mela in Kolkata on June 1.