<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Amid the Eid festivity, Sunday morning marked the annual Pahela Baishakh cultural celebration held at Ramna Park in the capital by Chhayanaut, the country’s distinguished cultural institution, widely revered for celebrating the beginning of the Bengali New Year with its flagship festivity on April 14.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Began at 6:15 am beneath the banyan tree at Ramna (Ramna Batamul) with a mesmerising flute performance of the "Raag Aheer Bhairav" tune by Mortuza Kabir Murad, the cultural festivity was followed by the performances of the country’s distinguished artists, captivating audiences with songs, recitations, and other performances.</div><div><br></div><div>The cultural event featured 31 performances, including 11 chorus-songs and 15 solos, with readings and recitals by renowned artists including Satyam Kumar Debnath, Khairul Anam Shakil, Chandana Majumder, Tania Mannan, Ramendu Majumder, Jayanta Chattopadhyay and others, shedding spotlights on the themes of nature, love for humanity, self-purification and patriotism.</div><div><br></div><div>Audiences from every part of the capital gathered for the celebration, singing and dancing to welcome the new Bengali calendar year 1431 with good tidings.</div><div><br></div><div>In the last part of the program, Chhayanaut’s Executive President Dr Sarwar Ali read out the New Year speech. The event came to its closure with a group rendition of the national anthem.</div><div><br></div><div>Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar live telecasted the 2:17 hours event, and Chhayanaut also streamed the festivity live on its YouTube channel and was also streaming the event at https://www.youtube.com/@ChhayanautDigitalPlatform.</div><div><br></div><div>Strict security measures were put in place at the venue by the security enforcement unit of the government and the volunteers of the 13th Hussars Open Rover Scout Group, alongside Chhayanaut volunteers.</div><div><br></div><div>Founded in 1961, Chhayanaut has earned global fame for organising the traditional, extravagant cultural festivity of Pahela Baishakh at Ramna Park every year since the year of 1967. The only exception was in 1971, during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, and then in 2020-2021, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19.</div><div><br></div><div>The traditional cultural presentation of Chhayanaut marking the Pahela Baishakh is widely regarded as one of the most coveted and long-awaited festivities in Bangladesh, and it has earned fame as one of the grandest regular cultural celebrations in the world. - UNB</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>