Dhaka: The fourth edition of five-day-long Bengal Classical Music Festival began on 27 November at Army stadium in Dhaka. The fest is featuring about 150 veteran and promising subcontinental musicians.

The fiesta began on Friday with the Bharatanatyam performance by artistes from Pallabi Dance Centre. Next came on stage the students of Dhaka’s Bengal Parampara Sangitaloy who presented Kirtan with tabla guided by Pandit Suresh Talwalkar.    

The third presentation was by Dhrupad from music department of Rajshahi University. The formal inauguration of the fest came just after the presentation. Finance Minister A M Abdul Muhith inaugurated the festival.

Indian artistes took to the stage after the inauguration. The entire ambiance of the stadium transformed into a mesmerising musical dome with the melody of flute by Jayaprada Ramamoorthy — noted artiste from Karnataka, India.

Friday’s show also included performances by noted vocalists and music composers Kaushiki Chakraborty and Bombay Jayashri along with Rahul Sharma on Santoor and Pandit kushal das on Sitar.  

On Saturday, the stage will be illuminated by Pandit Uday Bhawalkar, Suresh Talwalkar, Dr Balamuralikrishna, Shubhayu Sen Majumder, and Ajoy Chakrabarty.