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A tribute concert to the King of Pop Michael Jackson will be held at the Bangladesh China Friendship Convention Centre on July 18.
   Organisers Jadu Event told New Age that almost all the major bands and eminent solo performers of the country will perform at the concert including MJ’s popular numbers ‘Beat It’, ‘Billy Jean’, ‘Black or White’, ‘Dirty Diana’, and ‘Heal the World’.
   Jadu Events manager Sheikh Manju said the band line-up includes Renaissance, Black, Artcell, Old School, Bohemian, Metal Maze, Radio Active, Scar and Shunno.
   Nasim Ali Khan of Souls, Alif Alauddin of Pentagon, Mahreen, Tishma, Elita, Kaniz, Laura, Mila and Minar will, among others, perform at the show.
   ‘We are trying to contact rest of the bands and solo performers for their participation in the tribute concert,’ Manju said.
   Tickets priced at Tk 500, Tk 700 and Tk 1000 will be available at Banani and Dhanmondi branch of Ecstasy, D-pagement and Yum Yum in Dhanmondi, and X-Lounge in Banani.
   A ‘Best of Michael Jackson’ CD and ‘A King of Pop’ T-shirt will be available with every ticket.

New Age: Could you tell us about your visits to Bangladesh?
   Shipra Khan: I regularly come to Bangladesh. I come here every year and train the country’s young music talents, who practise Indian music instrument sareengi and Hindustani classical vocal music. I work for the cultural organisation called Shadhona, a centre for advancement of South Asian music and dance. The organisation, supported by Shahidullah Khan and Dr Naila Zaman Khan, is run by Lubna Marium. The organisation arranges lecture demonstrations for their students.
   NA: Which gharana do they practise?
   SK: As a disciple and wife of the legendary Indian sareengi maestro, vocalist, performer and voice trainer Ustad Sagiruddin Khan, I continue the Ustad’s Delhi and Banaras gharana of Hindustani music to my students and disciples following the traditional style of guru-shishya parampara. After the death of the Ustad, I have been practising and passing down the knowledge from one generation to another.
   NA: Whom would you consider your most promising disciple in Bangladesh?
   SK: I have a good number of disciples here in Bangladesh as I have been coming here for about the last twenty-five years. By this time, I have met many music talents. Among them, I can mention the names of Anusheh, Aneire Khan, Nusrat Jahan Swati, Nazia Ahmed, Sabina Anam, Sadab Siddique, Iram Akhter, and Shyama Ahmed.
   NA: How do you evaluate the practice of Hindustani classical music in Bangladesh?
   SK: I have to say that there are many music talents in Bangladesh. The country has a long and rich traditional heritage of music. But Bangladesh needs more promotion for Hindustani classical music. They need more institutional support for music.
   NA: How were your recent performances in Dhaka?
   SK: I performed kheyal, thumri, dadra, bhajan of Delhi and Banaras gharana on June 26 in Dhaka. I also demonstrate different aspects of music during my performance. I consider music as my ‘ebadat’ or prayer to my Lord. I enjoy the audience here because they understand the spiritual aspect of classical music.
   NA: What message would you convey to the people of Bangladesh through your visit?
   SK: I always convey the message of the friendship between the people of Bangladesh and West Bengal. Music can be one of the stronger threads of building that friendship. I believe that music creates love, friendship and fraternity among the people. The spirituality of the classical music can soothe the restless mind of people. Music can pave the way for a righteous way of life.

In the special Michael Jackson commemorative issue of entertainment magazine called ‘Rolling Stone’ hitting stands this week, Brooke Shields, the model-actress reveals the King of Pop asked her to marry him — more than once.
   ‘I would say, “You have me for the rest of your life, you don’t need to marry me, I’m going to go on and do my own life and have my own marriage and my own kids, and you’ll always have me,’ Shields tells Rolling Stone. ‘I think it made him relax. He didn’t want to lose things that meant something to him,’ she added.
   Shields in the interview also says the innocent nature of the pair’s bond persisted as they grew older, and that as he aged, Jackson became ‘more asexual’ to her. ‘You saw women who were more sexual, who wanted to throw themselves at him and feel like they were going to teach him,’ she recalls, ‘we just found each other, and we didn’t have to deal with our sexuality.’
   Shields in her conversations about her relationships revealed a lot about how Jackson insulated himself from the outside world. ‘As I grew up and started having boyfriends, I would share with him, and he was like a little kid who talked about the bases — what first base was, what second base was, and it sounded very odd to the outside, I can imagine, but to the inside, to someone who’s never really left his bubble, you can understand how he would be curious.’

Students of the 16th batch of the Prachyanat School of Acting and Design staged the play ‘Inherit the Wind’ at Nilima Ibrahim Auditorium of Bangladesh Mahila Samity on Bailey Road Sunday evening.
   Eminent cultural personality Syed Hasan Imam and secretary general of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation, Jhuna Chowdhury, spoke on the occasion as guests. The academic director of the school, Shahidul Mamun, and the school’s acting director, Azad Abul Kalam, were present at the programme.
   Syed Hasan Imam said, ‘When I came to Bangladesh after passing many years abroad, I was astonished to see so many fresh faces in acting and they are performing very well. Now, I have come to know that a number of organisations have been giving them training to develop them into good artistes. I am really happy with these organisations’ initiatives.’
   Jhuna Chowdhury said, ‘In our country there are a few academic institutions where any student who possesses an artistic frame of mind can learn the art of acting. Prachyanat School of Acting and Design is one of the leading organisations that have come forward to help those who are eager to cultivate acting.’
   According to the organisers, a total of forty students participated in the six-month course for the 16th batch on acting and designing. Of them, twenty-four have successfully completed the course with good grades. They also said that Mominur Ranham Monty had stood first in the course on the basis of performance and grades.
   Following the certificate distribution session, students of the 16th batch staged the play ‘Inherit the Wind’. The play, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, was directed by Saiful Islam Jarnal.
   Students of the batch played different roles of the drama and designed set, lighting, costumes and props. They also worked on choreography, music and other backstage activities.
   Performance of the young aspiring actors delighted the audience. The set, lighting and costume successfully helped create the ambience of the play.

UK cinema-goers are to be presented with two alternative versions of hit comedy film Bruno from Friday, 24 July.
   A 15-rated edit of the movie will be distributed alongside the original cut, which has an 18 certificate.
   It is the first time alternate versions of a film have been released in the UK at the same time.
   Universal Pictures said it had re-cut the film after cinemas reported turning away large numbers of teenagers during the opening weekend.
   Only 1 minute 50 seconds had been lost from the original, it said.
   Sacha Baron Cohen’s mock documentary went straight to number one in the US this weekend. It is expected to achieve a similar feat in the UK, despite its restrictive certificate.
   Universal said the movie had taken an estimated Ł5m at the UK and Ireland box office since it opened on 12 July.
   If that figure is verified, Bruno will have achieved the biggest opening weekend of all time for an 18-rated film.
   Centred around an Austrian fashion TV reporter, the film sees Baron Cohen stage a variety of audacious, and often explicit, encounters with the public.
   It has already survived several encounters with the editor’s scalpel.
   Some scenes were shaved in the US to stop the film being given a restrictive NC-17 rating, which would have banned anyone under the age of 17 from seeing it.

A fortnight-long painting exhibition of the expatriate artist Monica Jahan Bose will begin at La Galerie of Alllince Française in Dhanmondi on July 23 and continue till August 5.
   The artist will present autobiographical works which raise questions about the identity, the language, and the status of women.
   Monica had earlier displayed her artworks at different places in France, Japan and the United States.

Exhibitions
   Solo Painting Exhibition
   Paharia Pathey
   By Sohag Parvez
   Time: 9:00am to 12:00pm and 5:00pm to 8:00pm
   Date: From July 2 to July 16
   Venue: Alliance Francaise De Dhaka
   26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi
   
   Nature-Offerings
   By AKM Alamgir Huque
   Time: 12:00pm to 8:00pm
   Date: July 8 to July 21
   Venue: Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts
   House 275/F, Road 27 (old),
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Barshar aro Kisu Gaan
   Organised by Nitya Upahar
   Time: 10:00am to 8:00pm
   Date: June 27 to July 27
   Venue: Gallery Nitya Uphar,
   Aziz Co-Operative Super Market
   Shahabagh, Dhaka
   
   Group Photography Exhibition
   Summer in Russia
   Organised by Russian Centre of Science and Culture
   Time: from 10:00am to 7:00pm
   Date: From July 2 to July 31
   Venue: Russian Centre of Science and Culture
   House 42 (new), Road 7
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Display of Books and Literary Materials
   Celebrating 115th birth anniversary of Assach Babel
   Organised by Russian Centre of Science and Culture
   Time: from 10:00am to 7:00pm
   Date: From July 1 to July 14
   Venue: Russian Centre of Science and Culture
   House 42 (new), Road 7
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Photography Exhibition
   On Abdullah Al Mamun
   Time: 5:00pm to 9:00pm
   Date: July 10 to July 17
   Venue: Lobby of National Theatre Hall
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy
   Segun Bagicha, Dhaka
   
   Cultural Programme
   on Drug Free
   By Bangladesh Simanta Cultural Academy
   Time: 3:00am
   Venue: Shaukat Osman Memorial Auditorium,
   Central Public Library,
   Shahbagh,
   Dhaka
   Cultural Programme
   By Abahaman Sanskritik Parishad
   Time: 4:00pm
   Venue: Shaeed Zia Auditorium
   National Museum,
   Shahbagh, Dhaka
   Theatre
   Abdullah Al-Mamun Theatre Festival
   Tritiya Purush and Mayik Master
   By Drama and Music department of Dhaka University and Theatre
   Time: 7:30pm
   National Theatre Hall
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka
   
   A Play
   By Maitree Natya Sampradaya
   Time: 7:00pm
   Nilima Ibrahim Auditorium
   Bangladesh Mahila Samity
   Bailey Road, Dhaka
   
   Nimajjan
   By Dhaka Theatre
   Time: 7:30pm
   Experimental Theatre Hall
   Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy,
   Dhaka