Amar Shurey Swadhin Bangla

On the occasion of the 37th In-dependence Day Grameenphone honoured the artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra through a concert at Gulshan Youth Club premises on March 26.

The programme started at 4pm with artistes of Chhayanat rendering Dhono dhanney pushpey bhora.

The title of the programme was "Amar Shurey Swadhin Bangla". At the programme participating bands performed selected songs aired on Swadhin Bangla Betar during the Liberation War. The idea is to popularise and generate public interest in these songs and the artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. The bands presented the songs in their own style, keeping the original lyrics and tunes intact.

Yaatri opened their performance with the song Bicharpoti tomar bichar korbey jaara, Salil Chowdhury classic that became popular during the freedom movement. The band also performed their original songs Meye, Ek paye nupur and Mitthey prem.

Powersurge was next. "For Powersuge it is something new as we usually perform metal songs," said Jamshed, vocalist of the band. Powersugre performed the Nazrul Sangeet Karar oi lauho kopat.

Next on the stage was Black. The band performed the popular Gano Sangeet, Jonotar shangram cholbei, written by Sekandar Ali and composed by Sheikh Lutfar Rahman.

Artcell performed Durgom giri kantar moru, written and composed by our National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The felicitation of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra artistes started with recitation by Asaduzzaman Noor. Noor recited Nurul din-er shara jibon written by Syed Shamsul Haq. A short presentation by Shankor Sawjal titled Jagoron-er bijoydhoni followed. At the programme Grameenphone honoured 55 artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra including Kamal Lohani, Abdul Jabbar, Apel Mahmud, Shujeo Shyam, Ajit Roy, Aly Zaker, Saheen Samad, Mamunur Rashid, Lucky Akhand, Timir Nondi, Fakir Alamgir, Rafikul Alam, Indra Mohon Rajbongshi, Soovas Dutt, Kalyani Ghosh and others. Among the artistes 33 were present at the programme.

A special song composed for the occasion, Tomakey obhibadon hey shobdo shoinik written by Shankor Sawjal and rendered by Fahmida Nabi, Tanvir Alam Sawjib, Polash Khan, Wakil Ahad and Shumi was played at the venue in honour of the award recipients. Topu, Arnob, Linkon and others representing the new generation of musicians presented the awards to the honourees. Artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra also performed songs at the programme.

The other artistes to perform were Ornob, Renaissance, Dolchut, Aurthohin and Miles.

"The role of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra during the Liberation War cannot be described in a few words," said artiste Naquib Khan.

"This initiative to honour the artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra should have been realised years ago," Naquib added.

Channel i and Radio Today were the media partners of the programme. The concert was coordinated by Asiatic Events Marketing Ltd.

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