Traditional `Bangla Mela` held in Barcelona

The traditional 'Banglar Mela 2023' was held in the tourist city of Barcelona surrounded by the beautiful natural beauty of the vast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Around 18,000 Bangladeshis currently live in this city of Spain, where Bangladeshis have been living since the 1980s. A large number of Bangladeshis and foreigners participate in this fair of Bengal, which is known as the festival of their life.

The fair was held on Saturday (July 15) in the heart of the city, Plaza Makbaya. The fair was held under the overall supervision of the Bangladeshi organization Association Cultural e Umanitaria de Bangladesh en Catalonia and with the cooperation of various Bangladeshi social and cultural organizations.

Mohammad Sarwar Mahmud, ambassador of Bangladesh Embassy in Spain, was present as the chief guest at the fair. Popular singers Ankhi Alamgir, Priyanka Biswas and Pulak Adhikari came from Bangladesh as guest artists invited to perform at the fair.

Bangladeshi artists from the United Kingdom and other European countries, including various cities of Catalonia, attended the fair. On this day, women, men and children came dressed in various Bangladeshi clothes including traditional sarees, bangles, sherwani, Punjabi. Bangladesh became one chilling fairground with their enthusiasm, joy and Bengali song melody.

Bangladeshis came to the fair from Barcelona and other cities of Catalonia. The fair starts from 6 pm till midnight. During the entire period, there were various cultural programs including native dances and songs on the stage of the fair.

After 7 pm, the fair grounds were filled to the brim. Many foreigners meet Bangladeshis to enjoy the fair. A great interest has been observed among the foreigners to see the Bengali fairs. They wanted to know and understand the culture and tradition of Bangladesh from attending the fair.

It can be seen from the surface, the stalls of the fair were decorated with local products and traditional Bangladeshi food. The stalls were also crowded to enjoy the taste of Bengali traditional food of different flavors. The presence of many Spaniards and many more foreigners was noted to taste the native cuisine. The stalls were decorated with traditional Bengali betel-nuts including various Pithapuli, Phuchka, Chatapti, Jhalmuri, Biryani, Kebab, Samucha-Singara, Jhal Chanachur and Halua.

Meanwhile, the introduction of the organizing organization was held after the fair started with the performance of the national anthem. Then the cultural program started with the presentation of Saeed Swapan, Mita, Nigar, Munni and Sharmin.

The fair stage was full of festivities with local artists from Barcelona and invited guest artists till midnight. Music was performed by invited guest artists from Bangladesh, Ankhi Alamgir, Priyanka Biswas, Pulak Adhikari, Imtiaz Babu, a popular singer of the 90s from the United States. Along with their mind-blowing songs, local artistes Ahana Diwa, Raju Ghazi, Tanmoy, Zeenat Shafiq, Manju Swapan, Omi Rahman and other artists performed various Bengali songs.

All the Bangladeshi community of Barcelona and Santakalma were sincerely thanked by the president of the organizing organization Alauddin Haque Nesa and general secretary Shafiq Khan for making the fair a success.

They said, our main objective in staging this traditional Bengali fair in the diaspora every year is to introduce the Bangladeshi generation living in diaspora to the traditions of Bengal. Because of this traditional Bengali fair, expatriate Bangladeshis, including children growing up in diaspora, can celebrate the Bangaliana festival at least one day a year and remember our native heritage. And to continue that effort, we organize the fair every year.

Read More