Md. Hafizur Rahman
Covid-19 has left an inedible mark on every sphere of life. No person in the world imagined that the world would have suffered this way due to the onslaught of an invisible enemy. No one knew that the whole human race will have to surrender helplessly to an invisible virus.
Since Covid-19 was first identified in late 2019, it has ravaged countries around the world. In the last one and a half years, the world's economy, politics, research, education, literature, society and culture have been severely affected.
Shopping complex, markets, trade and commerce are almost closed in many countries around the world. Research activities at various international reputed universities also came to a standstill. The closure of all educational institutions has created a profound impact on our students. It is worth mentioning that in our country, students passed in a special system called `autopass`.
The government should take necessary measures
to bring the cultural workers, musicians and crew
members under vaccination immediately
Because of Covid-19, religious institutions such as mosques, madrasas, churches, pagodas, temples and other places of worship have remained closed in most of the countries of the world. In our country, as an exception, everything is open to a limited extent
Impact of Covid-19 on the music fraternity is also severe. Usually various cultural programmes and musical concerts are celebrated throughout the year in Bangladesh whereas no open air concerts took place in the last one and half years. Corona has had a devastating impact on the music and cultural industry around the world. Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, artistes have been confined to their homes. Musicians who earn their livelihoods by doing music have been facing unspeakable economic problems. Many are changing their professions.
Many are starving to death. The music industry is facing billion dollar financial losses worldwide. According to the World Economic Forum, the six-month lockdown caused a loss of about 10 billion USD. The World Economic Forum has released a picture of the revenue earnings of the global music industry.
It shows that the music industry generated 24.15 billion USD in revenue in 2014. As such, there was an opportunity to generate 29.61 billion dollar in 2021. But because of Corona, it will not be able to generate more than 10 billion dollar. It is apprehended that even 4-5 billion in revenue will not be generated.
In addition, millions of pre-scheduled concerts have been canceled. Companies that paid in advance are not getting their money back. It is not possible to do a concert again. As a consequence, a chaotic environment is being created in the society due to economic reasons.
Millions of workers depended on the music industry worldwide. Many of them have lost their jobs and are now unemployed and are living an inhuman life.
Those who used to live a beautiful sublime healthy cultural life, today they have become destitute. There is no one to stand by them. Therefore, the government should take necessary measures to bring artistes cultural workers under vaccination immediately.
Also, steps should be taken to provide financial supports to artistes and crew members involved with music and cultural industry.
Md. Hafizur Rahman is an enlisted lyricist, Bangladesh Betar and Television