Notes From the Grid is a bi-weekly column about the Columbia County music scene written by Rob. It is featured every other Friday in the "On the Scene" supplement of the Hudson Register Star. See all »

October 17, 2011

Bengladesh Culture and Music

Music is a big part of the Hudson Bangladesh community. Traditional Bangla music mostly had to do with prayer or praise of gods and creation, but most “modernization” of their music came without the influence of western civilization but through the popularity of Sufi culture and music helping to bring “folk” music into the mainstream and composers like Rabindranath Tagore (the first non-European who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature) and Kazi Nazrul Islam both of whom reshaped Bengali music in the beginning of the twentieth century before there was any Bangladesh (which means “Country of Bengal” in the official Bengali language. My modest New York Public School education barely mentioned anything about this nation (then called West Pakistan) other than the scary Bengal Tiger which is now more endangered than ever was with only 200 or so alive in within the borders of Bangladesh and it was also about 200 members of Hudson’s Bangladesh community who came to celebrate their culture through music, fashion, play, food and poetry this past Sunday at the Henry Hudson Riverfront park.

We’re so lucky to live in such a diverse city and the Bangladesh are one of the most visible reasons why. Downtown Hudson has the fourth highest concentration of residents born in Bangladesh (2.6% of Hudsonites) and with their native born children the Bengali population is a vibrant and thriving pulse here in the city. I’ve found they mostly like to hang with each other for good reasons, culture, social mores and language being some of the more apparent ones. Their dress still seems a bit exotic as well, but after seeing the fashion shows at the Cultural Fair I can’t understand why there aren’t three or fourth Bangladesh stores on Warren for the soul purpose of raising the bar of of cool garb here in H-town. We see more and more of the younger Bengali generation wearing western clothes; wouldn’t it be great to see some of the younger American kids emulating the joy and beauty of their neighbor fashions by decking out in some saris and punjabis?

Enough. Sorry. I should be talking about the music and the Bangladesh Cultural Fair. The food was every bit as fantastic as you would expect, battered and fried cauliflower and aubergine, grilled spicy chicken, plenty of curry and mango juice, there was a toy kiosk for the children, jewelry and information about the Bangladeshi.  There was a lot of modern Bangladeshi pop music pumped over a sound system and it created a festive mood for the lovely models in vibrant colors parading on the improvised gazebo catwalk and bursting out in scarlet, forest green and navy blue with henna on their hands and attitude on their faces. Some models in traditional head gear not showing one hair on their heads, others in heels and lipstick with long flowing tresses. These young women and men knew they were beautiful and the fashion show show was one way to show their friends and neighbors how the pride they have in their culture. Towards the end of the clothing reviews the ceremony took a decidely western turn as a bevy of young found themselves moved to improvise their own version of a fusion Bengali/Hip Hop dance.

And there was lovely and passionate Bengali poetry. Each year Hosneara Kader comes in to my store to borrow a harmonium (a sort of a reeded organ/accordion instrument which drones pumped with one hand while the other hand plays a traditional keyboard) in order to accompany sacred songs from her native country at the International Fair at the First Presbyterian Church on Warren Street. At this function she didn’t sing or play the harmonium but recited a beautiful poem by the above mentioned Rabindranath Tagore. Tireless event organizer Mohammed Rony read an English poem by the same author.

Shariful Alam was the musical star of the afternoon giving a number of moving renditions of Bangladeshi songs while he accompanied himself on the aforementioned harmonium . There was also an inspiring performance of the Bangladeshi national anthem sung by Hosneara, Shariful, Salm Miah, Ruby, and Nusrat Sultana.

It’s a bit strange and a little frustrating that we know so little about our Bangladesh neighbors, so it is encouraging that organizers Hosneara Kader, Shariful Alam and Mohammed Rony took the incentive to produce an event that celebrates their culture and attempts to educate the rest of us as to who they are and what they are about. Watching the riverfront park active and vibrant and filled with groups of teenaged girls laughing and encouraging the wedding fashion models and the young men and boys kicking a soccer ball around (with the ball laughingly landing in a number of inopportune locations).
I’m old enough to remember the sense of importance that surrounded the Concert for Bangladesh even though I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I was more intrigued at the time by the musicians (especially George Harrison and Bengali musician Ravi Shankar) than atrocities the Bengalis were subjected to. I apologize to my neighbors now for that and am grateful that Shariful Alam shared a bit of history with the attendees. There were 3 million people who lost their lives during the Bangladeshi Liberation War. In 1971 Bangladesh won the war against West Pakistan and became a nation. If you want to know some more about the Bangladesh culture here in Hudson, ask them. They’re nice.