Skip to content

Obokolpo Bangladesh

EN বাংলা

About

About Obokolpo Bangladesh

Preserving heritage, practicing tradition, creating music.
Read more

Obokolpo Bangladesh is a multicultural research and creativity platform exploring the relationships between arts, music, heritage, craftsmanship, nature, and human expression. Rooted in the cultural landscapes of Bangladesh and South Asia, Obokolpo Bangladesh works to preserve traditional knowledge while creating space for experimentation and new forms of expression.
What we preserve
Heritage we hold close

Twelve traditions at the heart of our work — and a great deal more along the way.
See all twelve
সংগীত ও বহমান পরম্পরা

Music & Living Traditions

Documenting the folk, Baul, mystic, spiritual and regional music of Bengal — and the people and places behind it.

দক্ষিণ এশিয়ার লোককথা ও লোকঐতিহ্য

South Asian Folklores

Folk tales, myths, legends, ballads, proverbs, riddles and oral histories, traced as they travel between communities.

ঐতিহ্যবাহী ও নৃসংগীতের বাদ্যযন্ত্র

Traditional and Ethnomusical Instruments

Ektara, Dotara, Setara, Gopi Yantra, Khamak and Sarinda — studied as vessels of craft knowledge, not objects.

কাঠের শিল্প ও কারুশিল্পের ঐতিহ্য

Traditional Wood Art & Craft

Local wood species, selection, carving, joinery and ornamentation — and the knowledge built around working with wood.

ঐতিহ্যবাহী ও আধুনিক আসবাব

Traditional and Modern Furniture

From piri and jalchowki to palang, chests and shelves — design, materials, technique and the memory they embody.

কারুশিল্প ও নির্মাণজ্ঞান

Craftsmanship & Making Knowledge

How a craftsperson observes, selects, prepares and shapes a material — the process valued as much as the object.

প্রকৃতি ও প্রাকৃতিক উপকরণ

Nature & Natural Materials

Wood, bamboo, gourds, clay, leather and fibres — an object's story begins with the tree, soil or landscape it came from.

মৌখিক ও লিখিত সাংস্কৃতিক স্মৃতি

Oral & Written Cultural Memory

Folk narratives, puthi manuscripts, sayings and proverbs — oral history valued alongside the written record.

স্থান ও সাংস্কৃতিক ভূদৃশ্য

Place & Cultural Landscapes

No tradition exists independently of its landscape — rivers, soil, forests and settlements shape what grows there.

শব্দ, ছবি ও নথিকরণ

Sound, Image & Documentation

Photography, audio, video, interviews and measured drawings, building a multidimensional archive.

আচার, বিশ্বাস ও দর্শন

Ritual, Belief & Philosophy

Letting each tradition speak through its own language, practice and memory rather than a single interpretation.

পরিবর্তন, অভিযোজন ও ধারাবাহিকতা

Change, Adaptation & Continuity

Heritage is never static. We study not only what is disappearing, but how traditions adapt and find new form.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions

Instruments, crafts and research shown in galleries, theatres and hubs since 2023.
See all exhibitions
মাটির কাছাকাছি

Down to Earth

Proposed

A proposed exhibition for 2026. Details to be announced.

গায়েন অরণ্য

Singing Grove

14–28 November 2025

Drik Gallery, Level 2, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Nature, memory and oral tradition, with the grove as a metaphoric archive.

বাংলার নৃতাত্ত্বিক ও ঐতিহ্যবাহী নাট্য বাদ্যযন্ত্র

Bengali Ethnic and Traditional Theatre Instruments

24–26 July 2025

Riverside Theatres Parramatta, Parramatta, NSW, Australia

Bengali theatre traditions and ritual instruments within a diasporic performance context.

নিরাময়ের ঐকতান

Harmony of Healing

25–29 November 2024

Alliance Française de Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Sound, healing, indigenous knowledge and the spiritual imagination of Bengali music.

বাংলার বংশ পরম্পরার লোকঐতিহ্যের বাদ্যযন্ত্র প্রদর্শনী

Bengali Hereditary Folklore Instruments Exhibition

11–13 July 2024

Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Hereditary folklore instruments and their adaptation to environmental change.

সিলসিলায়াত: বাংলার দার্শনিক বাদ্যযন্ত্রের পরিক্রমা

Silsilayat: Transitions of Bengali Philosophical Instruments

28–29 October 2023

Bangladesh Film Archive, Agargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Film-oriented music and the spiritual dimensions of Bengali musical instruments.
Projects
Projects

Long-running research, documentation and field work.
See all projects
- Ektara
একতারা

Ektara

The Spiritual Heritage, Craftsmanship, Sonic Philosophy, and Living Traditions of South Asian String Instruments

A research and documentation initiative tracing the ektara and related string instruments across Bangladesh, West Bengal and Southern Asia.
WoodLab

Obokolpo WoodLab

A research and making space for traditional and experimental instruments.
Read more

At the centre of our practice is Obokolpo WoodLab — a research and making space dedicated to traditional and experimental soundscape and musical instruments.

EN বাংলা

About
What we preserve
Exhibitions
Projects
- Ektara
WoodLab

Events

Workshops & seminars

Making workshops, seminars and performances alongside our exhibitions.

Events will be listed here soon.

Obokolpo Bangladesh

Preserving heritage, practicing tradition, creating music.

About
What we preserve
Exhibitions
Projects
WoodLab
Contact

Contact

[email protected]

01738-190433

House 16, Bosila City Developers Ltd,
Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207

Follow us

© 2026 Obokolpo Bangladesh · okbangla.org · All rights reserved. Privacy Preserving heritage, practicing tradition, creating music.