December 14, 2018
Galaxy of stars at Bangla Sangeet Mela inauguration, CM gives away Sangeet Samman awards
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated Bangla Sangeet Mela 2018 and Biswa Bangla Loksanskriti Utsav 2018 from the open air auditorium at Uttirna in Alipore today. On the occasion, the Chief Minister gave away Sangeet Samman awards to eminent singers and musicians.
Bangla Sangeet Mela will be held in as many as 10 venues in the city from December 14 to 22 this year in which an estimated 2,000 singers, including those from districts, are expected to perform. The Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav will also be held side by side from December 14-18 at Ektara Mukta Manch.
For details of the event, click here.
Sangeet Samman winners:
Mon Mukherjee (Jojo) – Modern music
Srikumar Chattopadhyay – Devotional music
Gita Chowdhury – Folk artist
Manab Mukherjee – Flute player
Rahul Chatterjee – Sitar player
Saraswati Devi – Jhumur artist
Bibha Hansda – Santhali singer
Mahim Fakir – Fakiri music
Durga Roy – Bhawaiya artist
Shiv Sundar Das – Baul artist
Asim Roy – Folk artist
Sangeet Maha Samman winners:
Rupankar Bagchi
Raghab Chatterjee
Manamoy Bhattacharya
Srabani Sen
Arijit Singh
Shantanu Mukherjee (Shaan)
Debojyoti Mishra
Saikat Mitra
Prateek Chowdhury
Highlights of Chief Minister’s speech:
A galaxy of singers, musicians and composers are present here today.
A lot of artists who were born in Bangla are now famous all over the world. They have not given up their originality. We must preserve this connection with our roots.
We are missing Dwijen Da today. He is not keeping well. It is difficult to imagine a programme without him or Sandhya Di. We hope he gets well soon.
From Bhawaiya to folk music, from Jhargram to Murshidabad, we are honouring talents from across Bangla today.
Culture has no limits. Music has no boundaries. Dhamsa-Madol, Chhau, Rava, Baul, Lepcha music – artists from various spheres of music are present here today.
We are proud to say nearly two lakh folk artists are registered under Lok Prasar Prakalpa. We give them a monthly stipend, and they perform at government functions and ads.
Nearly 1500 artists perform in the Bangla Sangeet Mela. Additionally, 550 music artists also perform. We organise music shows in every para. We will take this initiative to block level.
We have to take music to the grassroots, inculcate the spirit of singing among our younger generation.
We have huge talent pool in Bangla. Take the Baul and Bhawaiya artistes for example. We want our culture to remain alive forever.
Music is life. It is a wonder of the world. Let music create new connections among people. Music has no end. It is evergreen.
My best wishes and greetings to musicians and artists across Bangla, India and the world.
