Two-day festival to feature Charyapada songs, discussions, training workshops, spiritual gatherings and a procession
The third Charyapada Revival Festival 2026 will be held in Dhaka on November 14 and 15, bringing together researchers, cultural practitioners, musicians and spiritual performers to celebrate the country's ancient literary and musical heritage.
Organised by Bhabnagar Foundation under the theme “Songs of the Soul of Bengal and the Fair of Nirvana”, the two-day festival will feature an inaugural ceremony, discussions, Charyapada music performances, training workshops, Bhabnagar Sadhusanga and a Charyapada musical procession.
The festival will remain open to all, according to a press release issued by the organisers on Thursday.
The opening day's programme will take place from 9am to noon on Saturday at the Kobi Al Mahmud Lekhok Corner of Bangla Academy.
German researcher and development worker Dr Max Steele will attend as the chief guest. Learning designer Mikhail Idris of Learning Design Studio and Bhikkhu Sunandapriya, general secretary of Bangladesh Buddhist Federation, will attend as special guests.
Playwright and researcher Dr Simon Zakaria will present the keynote paper.
The discussion will feature several speakers, including Dr Shamsul Alam, president of the central committee of Tariqat-e Ahle Bayet Bangladesh; poet Shahed Kayes; Sylheti Nagri script researcher Mostafa Selim; Dr Saim Rana, associate professor of the Department of Music at Dhaka University; poet and researcher Dr Asad Ahmed; and Zubayer Abdullah, assistant professor of the Department of Bangla at Dhaka University.
The second day's activities will begin at 3pm on Sunday at the Bhabnagar Sadhusanga venue in Suhrawardy Udyan, opposite the Bangla Academy gate.
The programme will include a Charyapada music training workshop, a spiritual gathering and a procession featuring Charyapada songs.
Renowned spiritual musician Shah Alam Dewan and Sadhika Srijoni Tania, a Charyapada trainer associated with the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, will conduct the training workshop.
Artists from different parts of the country will perform Charyapada songs throughout the festival. They include internationally recognised composer, performer and trainer Sadhika Srijoni Tania, Shah Alam Dewan of Barishal, Baul Antar Sarkar of Manikganj, Shila Mallik of Shariatpur, Robiul Haque of Panchagarh, Baul Anis Munshi of Patuakhali, Helal Uddin of Jamalpur, Fakir Abul Hashem of Pabna, Gyanhin Naim of Jhenaidah and Fateh Kalam, among others.
Reviving an ancient tradition
Bhabnagar Foundation began its sustained work on researching, composing, training and performing Charyapada songs through its weekly Bhabnagar Sadhusanga gatherings at Suhrawardy Udyan in 2014.
Since then, the organisation has completed 630 sessions dedicated to the revival of Charyapada songs.
In 2016, marking the centenary of the publication of Charyapada, the foundation organised the first National Charyapada Revival programme in collaboration with Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Continuing the initiative, the foundation successfully organised two three-day Charyapada Revival Festivals in 2024 and 2025 with the support of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
The 2026 edition marks the third festival organised by Bhabnagar Foundation, reflecting its continued efforts to revive, preserve and promote the musical, literary and spiritual heritage of Charyapada.
