Norway to co-organise Bangladesh Music Week to ‘foster understanding’

Norway is co-organising a music festival in Bangladesh as part of its effort to foster understanding between the two peoples through culture.

Styled ‘Bangladesh Music Week’, the two-day festival to be held on Friday and Saturday at Shilpakala Academy would bring together professionals of the “music ecosystem” from Bangladesh and some regional countries.

“We have excellent bilateral relation (with Bangladesh) and culture is an agent for exchange and dialogue and for building understanding between our two peoples,” Norwegian Ambassador Merete Lundemo said on Wednesday, while briefing journalists at her residence ahead of the festival.

Bangladesh’s entertainment group LiveSquare jointly with the Concert Norway, the largest communicator of live music of the Norway’s cultural ministry, would organise the festival with an aim to establish a regional network of cultural activists and resource persons.

“This is to share experiences, build capacity and work together,” Nafs Ahmed, managing director of LiveSquare said.

He said musicians, organisers, sponsors, light and sound specialists, and government had never come together under such a common platform to discuss their issues as this Music Week would ensure.

They will share their views in 13 panels that will address the issues like technology, media, and intellectual property (IP) rights that the music industry often faces.

But the security situation following some recent murders, including that of foreigners, cast a shadow on the programme as the organisers had to shelve their plans for outdoor concerts.

“We are organising all our programmes indoor and it’ll be held at Shilpakala Academy,” Ahmed said.

“I am confident that local organising partner will make sure security is adequate for the event,” the ambassador said when asked whether she was worried about the security.

Vocalist ‘Sumi’ of Chirkutt band that would perform in the Music Week said the festival would show the way “how the journey (of the industry) should be”.

“It’ll help us as well as those who are trying to give music an institutional shape and look at it in a bigger perspective,” she said.

Shironamhin’s vocalist ‘Tuhin’ said the festival would give them a platform to discuss the issues of their own interest.

“Now people can get lot of music by spending only Tk 50. They don’t think whether the musician is getting their due or not,” a visibly frustrated Tuhin said.

One of the panels of the festival will discuss IP rights.

Norway has been a strong player in the region with its cultural cooperation in South Asian countries including Bangladesh.

This music festival is the culmination of its recent activities in Bangladesh that include works to preserve some of the cultural heritage, mainly traditional instruments.

It also organised cultural exchange programmes to build capacity in all areas related to music and culture including sound and light.

“We have been actively engaged in this region for more than a decade. The Music Week is an opportunity to learn from each other,” said Solveig Korum, head of international projects of Concerts Norway.

Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Noor would inaugurate the Week on Friday morning, organisers said.