A Brief Statement and History of
North America Nazrul Conference
The North America Nazrul Conference is a platform of the North America Nazrul Conference Committee (NANCC). The Conference is non-political and is not tainted by the very deep rooted differences in domestic political affiliations among Bangladeshis. The Conference offers researchers, lectures, seminars, singers, poets, and dancers the chance to gather and exchange Nazrul’s creative work through performances, consistent with the mission statement of the NANCC.
The first conference was organized by the Shoukhin Cultural Group of New Jersey, in the year 1990. Subsequent to this a breakthrough event, an ad-hoc North America Nazrul Conference Committee (NANCC) was formed. During the second Nazrul Conference (1992), hosted by Taranga of Boston, the ad-hoc committee was transformed into a full blown committee consisting of about twenty members. The committee has been sponsoring two-day conference in different cities in US and Canada more or less once every two years usually during the Memorial Day Holidays to coincide with Nazrul Islam’s birth day of May 24. The third conference was hosted in Washington DC in 1994 and the current 18th conference is being hosted in New York. Since then, the Nazrul conference committee is continuing every other year, as listed below:
First Conference: 1990
Host: Shoukhin Cultural Group of New Jersey
Convenor: Musharoff Hossain
Coordinator: Mahmud Billah
Featured Artist: Feroza Begum
Second Conference: 1992
Host: Taranga of Boston
Convenor: Gulshan Ara Kazi
Coordinator: Kazi Belal
Featured Artist: Niaz Mohammed Choudhury
Third Conference: 1994
Host: Bangladesh Association of America,Inc.,(BAAI), Washington DC
Convenor: Mahmud Musharraf Hussain
Coordinator: Wahed Hossaini
Featured Artist: Fatematuz Zohra
Fourth Conference: 1996
Host: Bangladesh Society of New York
Convenor: Md. Awlad Hossain Khan
Featured Artist: Sohrab Hossain
Fifth Conference: 1998
Host: Mohona Cultural Group of Atlanta
Convenor: Mushfiqur Rahman
Featured Artist: Nilufar Yasmin
Sixth Conference: 1999
Host: Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts (BIPA), New York
Convenor: Selima Ashraf
Featured Artist: Shipra Basu
Seventh Conference: 2000
Host: Bangladesh Society of Florida
Convenor: Shahed Nawaz Choudhury
Featured Artist: Ajoy Chakroborty
Eighth Conference: 2002
Host: Taranga of California
Convenor: Obaidul Khan Rumi
Coordinator: Kazi Belal
Featured Artist: Fatematuz Zohra
Ninth Conference: 2004
Host: International Society of Bangladesh, Montreal, Canada
Convenor: Abu Laise Sher
Featured Artist: Ferdous Ara
Tenth Conference: 2007
Host: Deshi TV, Toronto, Canada
Convenor: Ellora Ameen
Coordinator: Khan Manzur-E-Khoda
Featured Artist: Fatematuz Zohra
Eleventh Conference: 2008
Host: Bangladesh Association of America,Inc.,(BAAI), Washington DC
Convenor: Mahmud Musharraf Hussain
Coordinator: Wahed Hossaini
Featured Artist: Leena Taposhi Khan/ Sabiha Mahbuub
Twelfth Conference: 2010
Host: Bangladesh Association of Delaware Valley, Philadelphia
Convenor: Golam Kabir
Coordinator: Ziauddin Ahmed
Featured Artist: Ferdous Ara/ Khairul Anam Shakil
Thirteenth Conference: 2012
Host: Bangladesh Association of North Texas, Dallas
Convenor: Mustaq Choudhury
Coordinator: Hashmat Mobin
Featured Artist: Nilufar Banu Lily
Fourteenth Conference 2014
Host: Deshi TV, Toronto, Canada
Convenor: Ellora Ameen
Coordinator: Khan Manzur-E- Khoda
Featured Artist: Ferdous Ara/ Pandit Tushar Datta
Fifteenth Conference: 2015
Host: Bangladesh Academy of Los Angeles, California
Convenor: Zahid Hossain Pintu
Coordinator: Parvez Howladar
Featured Artist: Sujit Mustafa/Yasmin Mustari
Sixteenth Conference: 2016
Host: Shatadal, a Cultural Organization of New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut
Convenor: Kabir Kiron
Coordinator: Jahangir Dickens
Featured Artist: Sujit Mustafa/Ferdous Ara
Seventeenth Conference: 2018
Host: Bangladesh Association of America,Inc., (BAAI) & Droopad, Inc,
Washington DC
Convenor: Shafi Delwar Kajol/ Hiron Choudhury
Featured Artists: Fatematuz Zohra/Nashid Kamal
Eighteenth Conference: 2021
Host: Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts (BIPA), New York
Convenor: Annie Ferdause
Coordinator: Selima Ashraf
Featured Artist: Yakub Ali Khan/Yusuf Ahmad Khan