To mark the 104th birth anniversary of the late poet and social activist Begum Sufia Kamal, Chhayanaut organised a cultural programme at its Ramesh Chandra Dutt Auditorium in the city’s Dhanmondi area on Saturday. The programme featured discussion on the life and works of Sufia Kamal, performance of solo and group songs and poetry recitation. The programme began with a chorus rendition ‘He Chiro Notun’ by the members of Chhayanaut, while cultural personality Mofidul Islam delivered a commemorative speech on Sufia Kamal at the programme. In the solo part, Laisa Ahmed Lisa rendered Tagore song ‘Dhara Jeno Mor Sokol Bhalobasa’, while Sumon Mazumder rendered Nazrul Sangeet ‘O’go Nithur Daradi Eki Khelechho Anukhhan’. Iffat Ara rendered Tagore’s number ‘Amar Haat Dhore Tumi Niye Cholo Sokha’, Chandana Mazumder presented Lalon Sangget ‘Amare Ki Rakhbe Tomar Charon Udashi’ and Abul Kalam Azad performed ‘Aj Radhar Shubho Din’.
Afterwards, reciter Camellia and Abdus Sabur Khan read out Sufia Kamal’s popular poems ‘Ashay Buk Badhi’, ‘Mitate Jothor Khudha’ and ‘Ajker Sishu’.
The programme ended with the rendition of a chorus song ‘Tomarei Koriyachi Jiboner Drubotara’.
During the entire programme, the artistes were accompanied by Asit Biswas on esraj, Swarup Hossain on table and Pradip Kumar on mandira.
Born in Shaestabad, Barisal on June 20 in 1911, Begum Sufia Kamal was an influential cultural icon in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh. She helped establish a number of cultural and social organisations, including Chhayanaut and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. Sufia Kamal’s notable writings are ‘Maya Kajol’, Mon O Jibon’, Santi O Prarthona’, ‘Keyar Kata’ and many others. She passed away in 1999 and was the first woman to be given a state funeral in the country. She was awarded with numerous literary awards, including Bangla Academy Award (1962), Ekushey Padak (1976), Independence Day Award (1997). l