Alternative rock band Shunno and heavy metal band Cryptic Fate who performed in ‘Joy Bangla’ concert in previous years are paying tribute to the event online since the unique initiative to showcase country’s history through music is put to a halt this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, the concert will be ‘bigger and louder’ next year, said Radwan Mujib Siddiq, a trustee of the Centre for Research & Information (CRI), the ruling Awami League’s research wing, which organises the event through its ‘Young Bangla (YB)’ platform.
“Join us as we take a look back at 6 years of the Joy Bangla Concert and keep your eyes on the YB FB page for details of the special programme we have planned for March 7th. There will be no concert this year but we hope to be back in 2022, bigger and louder than ever before,” Radwan, grandson of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wrote in his official facebook page.
To compensate for the halt of the event, there will be some virtual programmes.
“We will release a song virtually aligned with Joy Bangla Concert. We will also present a visual highlighting the best moments of our performances in the previous years starting from 2015,” said Emil of the Band Shunno.
“Joy Bangla Concert, based on the theme of the father of the nation’s historic March 7 speech, is the first of its kind in the country as no other event blended history with music so adeptly and for so many years,” he added.
Another band Cryptic Fate also took to their official Facebook page, writing, “Here's an acoustic, raw rendition of Cholo Bangladesh to celebrate the Joy Bangla concerts on 7th March and 50 years of Bangladesh!”
They performed the song in addition to expressing their emotion rolling with the concert that bridged history with music.
A short audiovisual highlighting the best moments of the concert in last year’s will be screened on the Facebook page of Young Bangla. It will also be relayed from the Facebook pages of different media outlets on the evening of March 7.
Besides, two interactive discussions with representatives from the bands, which performed regularly in the concert, and from the organisers will be aired on Channel 24 at 8:30 pm and Gaan Bangla at 8:00 pm on the same day.
Rolled out in 2015, Joy Bangla Concert has been a household name in the country’s music industry and a part of the youth pop culture, blending the patriotic melodies composed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh with the western-influenced modern songs.
In successive years, the country’s biggest concert for youths added some special features such as presenting the colored version of the speech in 2016.
Later, in 2020, the audience had a hard time believing their eyes when it saw the Father of Nation coming alive the same way he did 50 years ago in front of a sea of people, delivering his best speech that is now recognised by the United Nations as the memory of the World. The holographic visual was too hard to separate from reality.
The hologram display at the concert began with Bangabandhu's two daughters -- Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana -- appearing before the audience in hologram form and sharing memories of their father's historic speech. The PM's hologram also recited a poem.
Another surprise in the last year was the appearance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana at the concert venue.
Moreover, the contribution of young achievers of Young Bangla to transforming their communities was highlighted in audiovisuals to inspire the youths in the audience to deliver their best to society.
The youths who jumped, screamed, and danced to the western-influenced rock genre and the wartime patriotic melodies are now missing that electrifying vibe shared by a sea of young hearts.
“I am missing the unique blend of history and music that this concert is all about. The songs that were aired on the wartime secret radio station called Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra 50 years ago inspired the countrymen to fight against one of the worst genocides the history ever records. Those songs of the 1971-Liberation War of Bangladesh were coming alive once more in the voices of modern artists and that was a wonderful occasion to take part in. This year we can’t enjoy those fiery moments but look for a bigger comeback of the concert in the next year,” said Durjoy Das, an Anthropology student at Dhaka University.
“You have to just imagine the rich culture of this country. When the war was going on the battleground in 1971, some artists wrote, composed, and sang some of the legendary songs that still steal our hearts. I love the way the Joy Bangla Concert brings them alive once more. The literary value of those songs testifies to our rich heritage. When the concert brought back the wartime song, “The sun has risen in the east, bloody and red, the tide has come to the sea of people, bloody and red”, and when we youths too sang with all our heart, we virtually went back to the time of the Liberation War in 1971. We need more such efforts to bring back our history through music, art, and literature,” said Tahsin Ahmed, a Computer Science & Engineering graduate from Buet.
“It was unbelievable that the holographic visual was hard to separate from reality. For our generation, it is difficult to relate the moment on March 7, 1971, when a nation was exploding with rage against 24 years of injustice, torture, and killings conducted by the regime of Pakistan. It is hard to get back to that time when the father of the nation stood on the stage, urging all the countrymen to resist that repressive regime. It was his voice that set the tone for independence,” said Atikur Rahman, a young architect.
On March 7, 1971, all roads led to the Racecourse ground in Dhaka as Bangabandhu delivered one of the best speeches the world has ever witnessed in which he roared out loud against the regime of Pakistan that had not handed over power to the democratically elected party led by Bangabandhu.
Pakistan tried all the methods of killing, torture, and injustice to silence the voice of his people. Having failed in all attempts to stop Bangladeshis from raising their voice, Pakistan conducted one of the most notorious genocides in world history.
The endless suffering of the people of Bangladesh was vividly narrated by George Harrison’s song titled ‘Bangladesh’.
But, Bangladesh did not give in and kept fighting until the occupation army of Pakistan surrendered publicly, an event that had never happened before in global history.
Bangladesh emerged as a free and sovereign land on the world map on December 16, 1971.