Western classical symphony headlines opening night of Bengal Music Festival
Dhaka: Western classical music tiptoed into the Bengal Classical Music Festival for the first time on Tuesday night courtesy The Astana Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra from Kazakhstan.
Barely 20 minutes into their second act -- famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", one of the most popular ballet compositions in the world -- the discerning crowd at the near-packed Abahani Ground on Dhanmondi was almost on its feet basking in the afterglow of symphony and craving for more.
So much so that once the Kazakh group's performance got over, Bangladesh Finance minister A.M.A. Muhith declared: "There are two wishes I have. One is there should be a Bangladesh symphony group. What we witnessed today was brilliant and every nation must have a symphony group. I want to see our own also."
Muhith's other wish was to a have a designated venue for the mega-event, dubbed the "biggest classical music festival in the world" after clouds over this edition taking shape surfaced earlier.
The Army Stadium -- its home for the last five years -- was originally supposed to host the meet but logistical issues surfaced, forcing the organisers, Bengal Foundation, to postpone it from November to December and at another venue.
"I thank Salman F. Rahman (Chairman of Abahani Ltd, a top division football club) for allowing us to host the event here despite the league being on. The players are staying at a hotel and practising somewhere else for this event to take place which is commendable," Bengal Foundation Chairman Abul Khayer said.
Coming back to the orchestra, conductor Berik Batyrkhan used his baton to shepherd the band so symphonically with the strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion sections that the surreal sound transcended the audience into a make-believe world.
The group, which has collaborated with several distinguished conductors including K. Penderecki, V. Ashkenazy, R. Gutter, A. Tchaikovsky, R. Kanetti, and D. Bross, started off with a short composition by a noted Kazakh composer.
Prior to them taking the event by storm, virtuoso violinist L. Subramaniam got the ball rolling on Day 1 of the four-day extravaganza by performing a kriti (a compositional format of Carnatic music) on Raga Abhogi, a Carnatic raga that has also been adopted into Hindustani classical form.
Subramaniam came back on stage with his ensemble to perform with the Astana Orchestra, this time with a fusion between the East and West with his composition titled 'Shanti Priya'.
Late into the night, there was sarod recital by Rajrupa Chowdhury, khyal vocals by Vidushi Padma Talwalkar and Supriya Das, sitar by Firoz Khan and a flute-sitar jugalbandi by Rakesh Chaurasia and Purbayan Chatterjee.
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In phone call, PM Modi, US President Trump resolve to promote global peace, security
New Delhi, Jan 27 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to work towards a "trusted" partnership between India and US and advance global peace and security in their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration last week.
Modi and Trump exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and deliberated on measures to boost bilateral cooperation in areas such as technology, trade, investment, energy and defence, an Indian readout said.
The two leaders agreed to meet soon, it said.
"Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS.
Congratulated him on his historic second term," Modi said on 'X'.
"We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," he said.
In a statement, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said the two leaders "reaffirmed" their commitment for a "mutually beneficial and trusted partnership".
"They discussed various facets of the wide-ranging bilateral Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and measures to advance it, including in the areas of technology, trade, investment, energy and defence," it said.
"The two leaders exchanged views on global issues, including the situation in West Asia and Ukraine, and reiterated their commitment to work together for promoting global peace, prosperity and security," the PMO said.
"The leaders agreed to remain in touch and meet soon at an early mutually convenient date," it added.
It is not immediately known whether the issues of immigration and tariff figured in the talks.
Like in many countries, there have been some concerns in India as well over the Trump administration's approach on immigration and tariff.
President Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India too.
It is learnt that the phone call was initiated from the Indian side.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week that India is looking for "bolder, bigger and a more ambitious" relationship with the US and indicated its readiness to work with the Trump administration to address issues like illegal immigration and trade.
The phone conversation between Modi and Trump came six days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held separate meetings with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz in Washington.
Jaishankar also attended the Quad foreign ministers' meeting in the American capital. The meeting was the Trump administration's first foreign policy engagement.
At a media briefing in Washington on January 22, Jaishankar said his meetings signalled that the Trump administration "prioritising" the bilateral relationship with India.
The external affairs minister also said that there was agreement between the two sides about the need to be bolder, bigger, and more ambitious about the bilateral relationship.
Asked about the Trump administration's policy on tariff and immigration, Jaiswal said on Friday that India is looking at addressing issues in a constructive manner.
"Our approach has always been to address issues in a constructive manner which is in keeping with the interests of both countries," he had said at his weekly media briefing last week.
"We remain in close communication with the US administration and would like to continue to work towards strengthening our economic partnership further," he said.
India is also keen to continue cooperation under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) that was launched during the tenure of the Biden administration.
