Introduction

The Poush Mela was the concept of Dhaka Trustee Nasiruddin Yousuff who gave the idea to the artists Imran Hossain Piplu, Rahul Das and Kanak Aditya in early 2006. It fell to Piplu to coordinate the event and along with Rahul they drew together a team of workers and artists from Dhaka to implement the mela. From Scotland came BanglaScot’s first artist-in-residence to Bangladesh, composer/musician Kimho Ip, and co-producer with Piplu, Alan Tweedie. Kimho’s travel was supported by Scottish Arts Council on an individual basis as a personal development experience. Alan’s travel was supported by Melange Network. Accommodation in Dhaka was provided in the Gani family home.

Poush Mela, the winter festival, is most famously held in Shantiniketan, associated strongly with Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath was greatly influenced by his grandfather, Dwarkanath (a Freeman of the City of Edinburgh in the early 19th Century). In choosing Poush for the launch, BanglaScot was remembering that the ideas of Rabindranath and connections established through Dwarkanath are all the more relevant in the challenging 21st Century.

Aims

The aims were:

• To have a first public event for BanglaScot in Bangladesh on a realistic and achievable basis
• To have a first Scottish artist-in-residence working with the arts community in Dhaka

• To explore possible multi-lateral approaches to artists collaboration in future events, particularly with India and China
• To strengthen the relationships with British Council (Dhaka) and Prachyanat Theatre
• To present to the public an artistic event of quality, showing innovation through collaboration

Rehearsal & Preparation

Toufikul Islam Emon had volunteered to lead the theatre direction of the artistic collaboration. On the Scottish arrival in Dhaka it was agreed that Piplu (sculptor), Emon (Theatre Director) and Kimho (Composer) should form a three person direction team, conceiving the performance piece as collaboration between the three and a group of Prachyanat actors, and musicians, not all from Prachyanat.

Shilpakala Academy, the principal artist and performance training institution in Bangladesh, was the venue for daily workshops.

While rehearsals took place every day from 4.00 to 8.00 p.m., the planning and development of the mela took place in the hours leading up to rehearsals. Piplu led a small planning team to devise the infrastructure, plan the rest of the artistic programme and coordinate with the authorities.

Strong support from the British Council would be essential to successful delivery of the event in the British Council grounds, and this support was freely given and gratefully accepted. Masud Hossain, Culture and Science Programme Manager at British Council and his team were generous and practical supporters of the project.

The Mela

Throughout the day of the Mela there was a programme of rickshaw painting, Manipuri crafts, tribal crafts, Shola craft, terracotta works, books, toys, cakes and tea. To enter the venue it was necessary to pass under the large wood and straw art work created for the entrance – a Banyan Tree. This tree and a tree on stage in the auditorium were designed and built by leading young sculptor, Tejosh Halder Josh.

Performance during the day included the folk group Pala Gaan, a dhol band, traditional puppetry, monkeys and snake charming.

The highlight of the day as darkness fell was the performance of the collaborative theatre piece, Butterfly Butterfly. Kimho described the musical input as reflecting ‘the transformation from conflict to harmony’ and stressed that ‘innovative metamorphosis only takes place when reconciliation of differences is truly conceived and respected’.

Emon reflected that ‘it’s not only the story of becoming a butterfly; it’s a journey of man to face all the difficulties of life and to become the real human being’.

A large and appreciative audience watched the outdoor performance, beautifully lit by Jillur Rahman. Following Butterfly Butterfly the final part of the mela was the indoor programme in the auditorium which included short speeches by Nasiruddin Yousuff on behalf of the Dhaka Trustees, Masud Hossain on behalf of the British Council and Alan Tweedie.

The indoor performances opened with Bangladeshi pop star, Mehreen, herself no stranger to Scotland, having visited twice. Mehreen sang folk songs on this occasion, beautifully rendering some of Tagore’s best known works that derive from the music of Robert Burns and Scotland, leading off with Phoole Phoole, written to the music of Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon.

New friendship with the staff at the Chinese Embassy developed during the lead up to the event. They kindly secured for the indoor concert the loan back of the musical instrument, Yang Qin, recently donated by the Government of China to the National Museum in Dhaka.

This instrument, never played before it was presented to the Museum, was heard for the first time as Kimho contributed some Chinese music to the event and also accompanied folk group Joler Gaan. Scotland already knows the work of Joler Gaan and it was their delightful performance that was the mainstay of the evening programme, and it was their Bangla folk tunes that the audience took with them into the evening at the end of a perfect day.

Reflection

This event came together through the eager collaboration of people in Bangladesh and Scotland. In an introductory message for the programme brochure, First Minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell MSP in sending his best wishes wrote, ‘this innovative use of the arts will promote greater understanding and respect between the people of Scotland and Bangladesh’.

Poush Mela was the start of that Bangladesh/ Scottish aspiration. It was a good start and its success augers well for making Poush Mela an annual feature of collaboration between the two countries as well as encouraging everyone involved to explore other collaborations. Already there are plans for Butterfly Butterfly to be taken to Chittagong, and also an aspiration to take the performance to a festival in Delhi.

Already there are offers from both the Chinese Embassy and the Indian High Commission to explore Chinese and Indian collaboration with BanglaScot next year. New people have been brought into the BanglaScot family and new possibilities beckon.

Media

BanglaScot’s Poush Mela was widely covered by the Bangladesh media. Against a background of daily coverage of one large political demonstration (three days before the mela), a second contrary political demonstration (two days before the mela) and a hartal (national strike) on the eve of the mela, the news of this collaborative international and intercultural event made good reading in the press and extensive television coverage. This was truly a good news story.

Thanks

It is necessary to thank everyone that gave their time freely to make a success of this venture. There was much voluntary effort, especially by the team from Prachyanat Theatre. The Dhaka trustees found the money for the event’s production and Luva Nahid Choudhury joined Nasiruddin Yousuff in being the practically supportive trustees for the event. The other major contributions to the event came from Melange Network who produced the event through their associates Piplu, Alan, Rahul and Kimho; and the British Council who provided premises and extensive use of their staff and resources.

Other contributions came from Scottish Arts Council. Prachyanat, Joler Gaan, Osman Gani and family, Shilpakala Academy, Shanewaz Hall Dhaka University, Cairn Energy, Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China and the National Museum of Bangladesh.