Jagoroner Gaan - Our History on Catalog
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Music and poetry have played an integral role in shaping societies through the ages, in its fights against oppression, injustice and tyranny. This fact has never been truer than in the case of Bangladesh as these forms of art have epitomised the struggles of its people in various movements and invariably served as the inspiration required to overcome them.
‘Through the nature of the lyrics and music, our nation found a way to prevail during various complex situations,’ State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan recently acknowledged.
‘A song can motivate millions of people in an instant as it has done on many an occasions throughout our history,’ he added.
Renowned singer Apel Mahmood was among the many that did just that during the Liberation War, motivating one and all with his patriotic songs. As Apel himself says, music was a spiritual weapon, inspiring the freedom fighters to fight till the very end.
‘During the war, I was a frontline fighter of sector three but later, I joined Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I had heard that in Ashuganj, 21 people were injured and taken in custody by the Pakistanis for listening to our songs. There were a number of freedom fighters who told us that our songs kept them motivated and even made them fearless of the prospect of death,’ recalls Apel Mahmood.
Ak sagore rokter binimoyee – the tune of which is still played just before 8:00pm and 10:00pm broadcast of the Bangladesh Television news - is among the many songs Apel lended his voice to. The song was written on December 16 to commemorate victory in the Liberation War as well as to honour the freedom fighters and martyrs of the war along with other songs such as Mora ekti phool ke bachabo bole juddho kori and Teer hara ai dhewer shagore pari dibo re.
‘Govinda da (Govinda Halder) gave me the lyric of ‘Mora akti phoolke…’ in August 1971. It stirred me at the time and does so even today,’ says Apel.
Abdul Jabber another celebrated singer of the time, having rendered his voice to the timeless song, Salam salam hajar salam, says that their preparation for the liberation war started soon after the March 7 address of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
‘The song Salam salam… was written in early 1971 by Fazal-e-Khoda in order to pay homage to the martyrs of the language movement in 1952 and during the war of liberation, it gained huge popularity, inspiring many Bangladeshis in their fight against the Pakistan army, ’ says Jabber who sang the first song transmitted by the Betar.
Jabbar was a regular singer for the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. ‘People were looking for familiar voices just to be sure that Swadhin Bangla Betar was really a Bangladeshi radio channel and they were assured of that when we started to sing our songs.’
Compiling various songs of a similar nature to the aforementioned ones, cultural organisation Jagoran Sangskriticharcha O Gobeshona Kendra launched ‘Jagoroner Gaan’, a collection of 71 patriotic songs that inspired Bangladeshis during their various symbolic struggles over the years, in a 6 CD compilation. The occasion was marked with a day-long presentation of patriotic songs and traditional dances at the Shikha Chironton in Suhrawardy Uddyan, on December 12.
Some 42 singers have rendered their voices to the 71 songs in the ‘ganasangeet’ genre with Amit Bandopaddya directing the music for the collection.
‘Over the last two and a half years, the organisation has worked on collecting and preserving hundreds of revolutionary songs that have accompanied the history of the region and selected 71 such compositions - the number which signifies the year of the liberation war,’ says Mahmud Selim of Jagoran.
The compilation includes a wide array of songs which inspired the nation during various eras including the anti-colonialism movement against the British Imperialists and the language movement of 1952. Then there are the songs which motivated people to vote for the Juktafront in 1954, songs which represented the struggles against the military junta of Yahya Khan in 1958, the education movement in 1962, the Six Point movement in 1966, the mass upsurge in 1969, and eventually the Liberation War 1971 and the anti-Ershad movement in 1990. Along with that, a number of songs about proletariat movements of the country have also been included in the album.
‘Ganasangeet has inspired the nation during all the important movements of the past and the album will uphold the significance of this genre to the upcoming generations of the country,’ Information Minister Abul Kalam Azad said at the programme.
The organisation also honoured the 41 lyricists and music directors whose works are featured in the album, 19 of whom have been honoured posthumously. They are Abdul Latif, Satyen Sen, Khan Ataur Rahman, Shamsuddin, Makshud Ali Shai, Shahidullah Kaiser, Sekandar Abu Jafar, Abul Umrah Fakruddin, Altaf Mahmood, Samar Das, Badrul Hasan, Abul Kashem Swandip, Shahidul Saber, Abul Umrah Fakruddin, Fazal-e-Khoda, Shahidul Islam, Sheikh Lutfor Rahman, Sukhendu Chakrabarty, Anwar Parvez and Mostofa Wahid Khan.
The others who were honoured at the day’s programme included Ajit Roy, Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, Apel Mahmud, Gazi Mazharul Anwar, Nayeem Gowhar, Rahat Khan, Abu Bakar Siddiqui, Mostafizur Rahman, Ali Mohsin Raja, Kazi Rozi, Akhter Hussain, Ferdous Hossain Bhuiyan, Matlub Ali, Azad Rahman, Abdul Jabber, Khademul Islam Basunia, Sujey Shayam, Alauddin Ali, Shawkat Hayat Khan, Mainul Islam Khan, Kamal Lohani and Mahmud Selim.
Abdul Jabbar and Apel Mahmood, who were among the ones honoured at the programme, said that they felt proud of their work and consider the album to be a source to revive patriotism amongst future generations.
by Mohiuddin Alamgir
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