Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Embassy of Bangladesh
Paris, France
Date: Paris, Thursday, 14 April 2016
Subject: Music for Peace: Bangladeshi artiste Alif Laila dedicates her sitar recital to world peace.
Renowned Bangladeshi sitar player Alif Laila performed at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to mark the first day of Bangla New Year 1423 as well as the 199th session of the Executive Board of UNESCO. German Tabla player Florian Schiertz accompanied Alif Laila's sitar recital.
Coined as "Music for Peace", the sitar recital evening was organized by the Embassy of Bangladesh to UNESCO to underscore Bangladesh's strong commitment to the promotion of peace and stability in the world.
Explaining the context of the event, M. Shahidul Islam, Ambassador of Bangladesh to France and Permanent Representative to UNESCO said Bangladesh has been providing military and police officers in various UN Peacekeeping Operations for many years to promote world peace and security. "By organizing Music for Peace event at UNESCO, we wish to add a cultural dimension to Bangladesh’s overall effort in favor of world peace", said Ambassador Islam.
Born in Dhaka, Alif Laila began the formal study of sitar under Ustad Mir Qasem Khan, nephew of the legendary maestro Ustad Allaudin Khan, born in Bangladesh, the founder of the much revered Maihar Gharana. She further continued under the tutelage of Partha Chatterjee, Krishna Bhatt and Kushal Das. She has toured worldwide and performed at numerous prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, Washington DC; The Shakespeare centre, Washington DC; The Purcell House, South Bank Center, London; The Bengal Festival, Dhaka; The Indian International Centre, New Delhi; to name a few. Her DVDs, 'Hrydayaragam' was featured in the Women's History Month at the Smithsonian in 2008 and 'Strings of Resonance' was nominated for the Best Classical Music Award in Bangladesh in 2010. Also an accomplished painter, Laila has a BA degree from the Faculty of Fine arts of Dhaka University.
Florian Schiertz,( শিয়াটস) an accomplished Tabla player, was born in Germany in 1973. He postgraduated in performance at the Rotterdam Conservatoire in the fields of Tabla and North Indian classical music. He received formal training from such stalwarts as Uday Majumder, Ustad Faiyaz Khan and Sumantra Guha of the Farukhabad gharana. Florian has been performing for many years in India and many countries in Europe.
Dr. Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Senior Secretary of Ministry of Public Administration and Bangladesh's Representative to Executive Board of UNESCO (2013-2017) was present at the occasion as special guest. Kamal Chowdhury recited three of his poems for the international audience.
Diplomats and delegations from 58 Member countries of UNESCO Executive Board, members of French civil society and art community enjoyed the sitar recital.
