Echoes of Shahbagh on the interweb
Online radios and music push youth movement forward
Fahmim Ferdous Creativity is a powerful source of inspiration; we all remember Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro (SBBK), keeping the national spirit high during the days of war in 1971. In 2013, when the country has united once again for a single cause, what better sources of inspiration could there be than the music that had kindled the fire in freedom fighters' hearts in '71?
Shadhinbanglabetarkendro.com, an online radio, has been operating live from the heart of "Projonmo Chattar" for over a week now, trying to keep the online community involved in the protests. The online radio station plays the music of the original SBBK of 1971, and recitation of poems such as Nazrul's "Bidrohi" -- cross-faded between live broadcast of slogans and updates from Shahbagh. Even four episodes of a 2013 version of the legendary SBBK programme "Chorompotro" have been written and recorded by an online community called 'Shahbag Protibaad', in the same razor-tongue humourous style of M.R. Akhter Mukul, and are being broadcast on the radio station. It also involves people from all over the world for live Skype chats, where scores call in from abroad to express their opinions.
Apart from them, another online radio station named Mango Radio -- mangodio.com (for the "Mango people" or aam-jonota) has also been broadcasting programmes on Shahbagh from the venue.
While the gono sangeet of the '70s provide inspiration aplenty, musicians -- pros and amateurs alike -- are writing, composing and singing new songs every day, inspired by the movement. Kabir Suman has released his fourth song on the Shahbagh movement, an elegy to the slain activist Rajib; Hyder Husyn has released "Tora Shob Chol Chol Chol", while the band Chirkutt, which has been very vocal in live protests at Shahbagh, has released a song called "Tui Rajakar". Members of Arbovirus performed a song at the square earlier titled "Jalo Agun Jalo", while Aurthohin frontman "Bassbaba" Suman has released a song on his ReverbNation web page, titled "Ma", and The Brotherhood Project, comprising of musicians Joy Shahriar, Parvez Sazzad and Shafiq Tuhin, has released a video of a song titled "Shahbagh".
Apart from the big names, Chamok Hasan and his friends at the University of South Carolina, USA, composed a song titled "Fashi Chai" and released it online, while another song is floating on the internet by one Amit Mallik, titled "Shahbagh 2013".
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