DHAKA: On the occasion of the ‘Fête de la Musique’, known as World Music Day, Alliance Française de Dhaka, supported by French embassy, is going to organize a two-day music program in La Galerie in Dhanmondi.

The program will be held on June 21 and 27.

A special concert will be presented by world renowned French-Lebanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Abaji, along with some Bangladeshi traditional bauls. It will be held at 6:30pm on June 21.

The second event will be held at 4:00pm on June 27.

Students and teachers of French courses as well as of other cultural workshops, including Western Classical Guitar, Pianoand Violin, will present a number of solo and group performances at the same venue.

According to the organizers, Abaji was born in Lebanon of an Armenian-Greek father born in Smyrna in Turkey and of an Armenian-Syrian mother born in Istanbul in Turkey. They met in Lebanon.

Abaji arrived in France in 1976 just after the beginning of the Lebanese civil war. He had a passion for traditional Chinese medicine ‘Tai Chi Chuan’ and ‘Do In’.

He studied at the Medical University in Paris and became a therapist, practicing ‘Tai Chi’ in psychiatric hospitals for seven years.

Music being a tradition in the family, at eleven Abaji began playing the guitar before moving on to other instruments like clarinet, percussions, oud, bouzouki and various flutes, collected during his travels worldwide.

Later, he worked on the transformation of instruments to synthesize his passions in Indian music, Oriental music and blues.

This will be Abaji’s third tour in Bangladesh.

Abaji released his first album ‘Paris-Beyrouth’, with lyrics in French, Arabic and English in 1996. Later, he released ‘Bedouin’ Blues’, ‘Oriental Voyage’, ‘Nomad Spirit’ and ‘Origine Orients’.

BDST: 1839 HRS, JUNE 16, 2014