Spirit of 7th March rekindled at Joy Bangla Concert

Organised by the Centre for Research and Information (CRI) and its associate Young Bangla, the concert was hosted for second year in a row, staging performances by seven heavy-weight rock bands of the country including Warfaze, Shironamhin, Lalon, Cryptic Fate, Shunno, Nemesis and Arbovirus.

The show began at 5pm as the masters of ceremony Iresh Zaker and Nabila jogged the memory of how the speech given by the Father of the nation on March 7, 1971 motivated the nation towards achieving independence. A group of singers and musicians from Chayanaut opened the show by rendering our National Anthem.

From then on, the bands took the stage and performed their own renditions of patriotic anthems and songs of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, which inspired millions of Bangladeshis during the Liberation War.

Patriotic songs and songs of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, such as 'Ek Shagor Rokter Binimoye', Dhono Dhanyo Pushpo Vora, Rokto Diye Naam Likhechi, 'Joy Bangla Banglar Joy', Karar Oi Louho Kopat, Teerhara Ei Dheuyer Shagor, 'O Amar Desher Mati', 'Ekti Phulke Bachabo Bole' 'Purbo Digonte Surjo Utheche' were performed by the bands.

The major attraction of the concert wqs the colored version of Bangabandhu SHeikh Mujibur Rahman's 7th March speech.

Prior to the screening of the speech, ‘Prachyanat’ artistes recreated various historic events from 1947 to 1971.

They highlighted the post-Partition exploitation, oppression and persecution by the Pakistani rulers and various facets of the Bengali struggle.

As their dramatic narration retrospected on Mar 7, the Bangabandhu’s electrifying voice came alive on the screen: My brothers, today I appear before you with a heavy heart...

The audience at the Army Stadium hung on to every word of his 19-minute-long speech amid pin-drop silence as was witnessed 45 years ago at the Race Course ground.

The crowd repeated after him when he was seen saying: “He didn’t agree with me, rather he yielded to Mr Bhutto’s demand.”

And they erupted in an echo when he was heard uttering those immortal lines: “...The struggle this time is our struggle for emancipation, the struggle this time is the struggle for our independence.”

The crowd endorsed in unison saying “You can’t...You can’t” as the deep resolute voice was heard saying on the screen “You can’t keep seven crore Bengalis subjugated. Now that we have learnt to court death, no one can dominate us.”

The stadium resonated with the cry of “Joy Bangla” as the speech concluded with the immortal slogan.