A musical evening of Shyama Sangeet by Kazi Nazrul Islam was organized by the Indira Gandhi Cultural Center (IGCC) of the Indian High Commission on Tuesday at the Indian Cultural Center in Dhaka. The national poet of Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam, is equally popular in India and Bangladesh. Nazrul has composed more than a hundred devotional songs on Goddess Maa Kali, which is called Shyama Sangeet.

Pranay Verma, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh gave a welcome speech on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, he said Kavi Nazrul’s devotional songs express profound emotions and often invite a listener to experience a deep connection with the divine. He said Kavi Nazrul is a very powerful and strong icon of the shared cultural heritage of both India and Bangladesh and gives us a unique platform to forge closer people-to-people and cultural connections between the two countries.

Popular Artists Mridula Samadder and Bijon Chandra Mistry gave heart-touching performances of selected Shyama Songs during the event. Renowned reciting artist Tito Munshi beautifully recited Nazrul’s poetry dedicated to Goddess Kali. Prominent persons from the field of art and culture in Bangladesh were present at the event.

Kavi Nazrul Islam was a prolific poet, lyricist, musician, revolutionary and philosopher. He is the rare genius of undivided India.

He was known as a ‘rebel poet’ writing forcefully against exploitation, oppression, religious bigotry and social evils of his time. He was a fierce critic of the British colonial government for which he also suffered jail terms. At the same time, Nazrul wrote some of the most moving poems on love and devotion eulogising both Islamic God and Hindu deities among others.