Penning Today’s Songs of Patriotism

Mora ekti phul ke bachabo boley judhdho kori…

Amidst all the chaos, confusion and disintegration of the past 30 years, patriotism nowadays is by far a very low-key word for one of the smallest nations of the world. The love for a language which resulted in the freedom and birth of our beautiful nation, now seems to be getting lost further amidst the so-called brainwashing tactics of the Western culture via the media. But is that really the true scenario?

The new age youth of today, regardless of which part of the globe they’re from, do speak out about the socio-political stance of their countries through the one channel or medium that has again and again shown it’s power in reaching the masses, touching the hearts of millions and making an irrevocable stance – music. Although it does remain to be seen whether all the members of the youth are on par with the subject, one only has to look at the recent examples of concerts like LiveAid and the Princes Royal Trust (both of which have been running for years now) to realize one undeniable fact – music can reach the mass public and trigger mass awareness; it can make people come together to celebrate with the music and in turn raise issues or help the needy.

Because of the amount of exposure and coverage bands and musicians get these days, especially due to the much-appreciated entrance of two FM radio stations, Radio Today and Radio Foorti, a lot of people might have the misconception that Cryptic Fate’s latest album “Danob”, with songs like “Danob”, “Raag”, and “Political” and Hyder Hussein’s now-famous number “30 Bochor” are the only examples of how musicians, especially those from the young generation, are expressing their feelings and frustrations about the country’s on-going socio-political status quo.

But be it mainstream or underground, harnessing the power of music to convey social dissatisfaction and political protest has been a trend amongst local bands and musicians for a long time now. Warfaze is undoubtedly the band which has been the most pro-active in this aspect. One of their notable numbers which spring to mind raising serious questions about the socio-political stance of the country is “Jibondhara”. The song, with the signature Warfaze sound of high pitched vocals backed up by loud instruments, claws away at the state of the our plight as the citizens of this country.

Though when they’d started out there were serious doubts how well their works were being conveyed to the mass audience, time and again bands like Warfaze and Aurthohin have raised these issues in their albums, and to this date they still do – with numbers like “Dinbodol” and “Notun Diner Michile” whose lyrics literally shout out about issues on patriotism and winds of change for the country. Miles, in their groundbreaking albums “Protisruti” and “Prottasha”, gave us songs like “Keno Ora Rajpothey” and “Shanti Chai”. Bongabdo 1400 by Feedback gave us two gems of a song called ‘Uchho Podostho Todonto Committee’ and ‘Shamajik Koshtokathinno’.

And the Blacks, Artcells, and Arboviruses are not far behind either. The youth of today are playing their respective parts in penning songs of protest and frustrations. Examples include the heart wrenching patriotic number “Cholo Bangladesh” from Cryptic Fate, RaaGa’s “Ahoban”, and “Ami Protibaader Kotha” in Fuad’s soon to be released album “Bonno”. Though how much these works have brought about any visible change in us – the audience – is a debatable topic, such efforts deserve praise. Young hearts respond most to music – a speech they won’t recall but a great song they will remember and spread around. The air of change lies in the hands of the very youth, and giving the youth the power to bring about that change is integral for any country to progress and prosper.

Tagore might have stated “Shatkoti Shontaner He Mughdho Jononi, Rekhecho Bangali Korey…Manush Koroni”, but one cannot deny the fact that rather than shying away, our youth are very much trying to show their ‘Jononi’ all the love they hold for her in their being, through the universal appeal of music.