Shilpakala to host five-day Pahela Baishakh festival

A five-day cultural festival and fair marking Chaitra Sankranti and Bengali New Year 1433 will begin at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, bringing together folk traditions, music, and performance under one programme.

Organised with support from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the event will remain open to all, positioning the capital’s premier arts venue as a public space for collective celebration.

The festival will open with traditional displays including drum processions, stick-fighting (lathi khela), kite flying, and spinning-top games, invoking rural performance cultures often absent from urban stages.

Across five days, the programme will feature a wide range of folk and musical forms—jarigan, pat-er gaan, baul songs, puthi recitations, kabigan, gazi songs, gambhira, jalalgeeti, and bhawaiya—alongside ensemble dance performances by various cultural groups.

Artistes from Shilpakala Academy—vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers—will perform alongside invited star performers and band acts. Music and dance from diverse ethnic communities will also be part of the lineup, reflecting the country’s plural cultural fabric.

The schedule includes stage productions such as “Rahim Badsha Rupban Konya” and the puppet show “Bacher-er Biye”, as well as acrobatic displays and film screenings.

Alongside performances, a folk art exhibition and workshops will run throughout the festival, offering visitors a closer look at traditional crafts and practices.

The inclusion of performances by Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (JASAS) adds a political-cultural layer to the otherwise heritage-focused programme, underscoring the intersections of culture and public expression during the New Year celebrations.