Bangladesh pays tribute to legendary singer Abdul Jabbar

The nation bade its farewell to legendary singer Abdul Jabbar, whose songs boosted the spirits of freedom fighters during the 1971 Liberation War.

The 79-year-old passed away Wednesday morning at a Dhaka hospital after suffering kidney failures. Doctors said he also had heart and prostrate ailments.

On Thursday, the mortal remains were brought to the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka for people to pay their last respects.

Hundreds of people, including the singer’s friends, relatives and colleagues, paid their homage to the ‘great patriot’.

Around 11am, the coffin, wrapped with the national flag, was brought to the Shaheed Minar, when the ceremony started with the state honours from the Dhaka district administration.

Jabbar was one of the artistes of the 1971 war-time radio station: Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra.

The tribute ceremony was led by the PM’s Principal Secretary Kamal Abdul Nasser Chowdhury, who placed a floral wreath on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The ruling Awami League delegation was led by General Secretary Obaidul Quader.

"He was a freedom fighter and Bangabandhu adored him a lot,” Quader told the media after paying respects.

Before the ceremony at the Shaheed Minar, the body was taken to the Bangladesh Betar, Jabbar's lifelong workplace, where a funeral prayer was held.

Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, who attended the programme, said: "When Abdul Jabbar started his singing career, the struggle for freedom had also started under Bangabandhu's leadership.”

“He played a key role in the movement with his songs.”

Born on Nov 7, 1938 in Kushtia, Jabbar had a penchant for music from early childhood inspired by his mother.

He was an eighth-grader when he started to take formal music lessons from Muhammad Osman in Kushtia. He later took lessons from Moksed Ali Shai and Lutfel Haque and Shibkumar Chatterjee in Kolkata.

It was lyricist Azizur Rahman, who introduced Jabbar to the Dhaka music scenario in 1957. The next year, he was enlisted as an artiste of the radio station.

His playback singing career started in 1962 with music director Robin Ghosh. Two years later, he was enlisted as a TV artiste.

In the late 1960s, he shot to fame by signing songs in protest against the arrest of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on treason charges in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and gradually become active in the struggle for freedom.

In 1969, he started a music school and formed a musical group, the 'Bangabandhu Shilpagosthi', with Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib as its chairperson.

After the Pakistani army launched 'Operation Searchlight' on the night of Mar 25, 1971, to crush the Bengalees' movement of freedom, he crossed the border into India and gradually joined a host of artistes of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra.

In the independent Bangladesh, his singing career evolved around the movie industry. He shot to fame with the song 'O Re Neel Daria' of the 1978 move 'Shareng Bou'.

After a five-decade career of playback singing, he started working on his only album 'Kothay Amar Neel Daria' in 2008, which was released this year.

For his contribution to the Bangladeshi music, he was awarded the 'Ekushey Padak' in 1980 and the 'Swadhinata Padak' in 1996 -- the highest civilian awards by Bangladesh.