The making of Bangladesh’s victory song: Composer recalls historic moments

It was half past noon on Dec 16, 1971, joy was in the air and happiness permeated into the artists and officials of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra radio broadcasting centre as composer and music director Sujeo Shyam was asked to do a song on the victory.

The next one hour and 15 minutes is history - the song for the birth of a nation after nine months of the bloody war of independence was created.

It was aired immediately after the announcement of victory at the radio station. "Bijoy nishan urchhe oi/Khushir haoae oi urchhe/Urchhe urchhe urchhe/Banglar ghore ghore’ (The flag of victory is flying/Flying in the air of joy/Flying flying flying/over all the houses of Bangla," was the first stanza of the song.

The song, written by Shaheedul Islam and composed by Sujeo Shyam, was aired throughout the day on Dec 16 and 17 that year.

They took only 15 minutes to write and compose the song while the recording took about an hour.

Sujeo Shyam recalled the unforgettable moments when he sat with bdnews24.com for an interview on the 47 years of independence from Pakistan.

“I was rehearsing another song. Ashfaq Bhai (programme organiser Ashfaqur Rahman Khan) came around 12:30pm and said that song wouldn’t work and we must sing a song of victory,” the composer said.

“There was a different excitement in the office on that day. I didn’t understand why. The song was recorded in around an hour. Twenty-five artists, including I, took part in it. Ajit Roy led the performance,” he said.

Sujeo said the dream of independence led them to work through the day to inspire the freedom fighters.

There was sadness in his voice when he said the song of victory, ‘Bijoy nishan urchhe oi’, was not played for 21 years in independent Bangladesh after the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975.

“No song of independence was played. What was wrong with these songs? No one could even utter the name of Bangabandhu in this country,” he said.

The musician said he attended the Mar 7, 1971 rally at the Racecourse Maidan, now the Suhrawardy Udyan, where Bangabandhu delivered the historic speech.

“It was beyond my imagination that a person could speak and love the people of his country this way. That day I felt that we are a nation and we have a different identity,” he said.

Sujeo said he was in Sylhet town on the night of Mar 25 when the Pakistani occupation forces launched the crackdown codenamed ‘Operation Searchlight’ on the Bengalis.

He came to know that a situation was developing in Dhaka while speaking with an Awami League leader at a restaurant on that night.

“I saw the horror of genocide when I came out after the 76-hour curfew ended on Mar 28,” he said.

“The air was filled with the odour of corpses. It seemed to be an open graveyard,” he said.

On Mar 26, Belal Muhammad, Abul Kashem Sandwip and several others at the Chittagong radio station decided to broadcast something to inspire the people in favour of Bangabandhu and independence.

They renamed the station to ‘Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendra’. They used the Kalurghat station on the outskirt of the port city instead of the main station for security reasons.  

At 7:40pm on that day, the station broadcast the first words: “Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendra theke bolchhi (Speaking from the Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Betar Kendra)

They bravehearts ended the day’s programme, which ran for around an hour, with the announcement that they will be back on air at 7 o’ clock the next morning.

On Mar 27, Major Ziaur Rahman read out the proclamation of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu at 8pm. On the following day, the station dropped ‘Biplobi’ from its name following Zia’s request.

The radio station’s operations halted due to Pakistani air strike on Mar 30 after the station ended the afternoon session.

The workers of the station crossed the border into India on Mar 31 with a 1-kilowatt transmitter.

After Bangladesh formed its first government in exile, the Mujibnagar Government, on Apr 10, 1971, India gave the government a 50-kilowatt transmitter in mid-May.

The Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra started its journey in a room of a two-storey building on Baliganj Circular Road in Kolkata on May 25.

Sujeo said he joined the station on June 8.

“News, drama, song, everything was recorded in that building in Baliganj. There was a tiny studio separated by curtains. We, 25 to 30 artists, recorded songs with a broken tape recorder and two microphones,” he said.

He said they started performing with tabla and harmonium first and bought some other instruments later.

Sujeo composed nine songs at the station that were aired from June to December.

His first song at the station was ‘Ayre chashi kuli majur’. The others included ‘Rokto die nam likhechhi’, ‘Ore shonre tora shon’, ‘Muktir ektai poth sangram’, ‘Rokto chai rokto chai’, ‘Aj rono saje bajiye bishan’, and ‘Aha dhonyo amar’.

Sujeyo recalled the Prime Minister of the Mujibnagar Government, Tajuddin Ahmad, would often visit the station.

The composer and some others returned home after independence on Mar 18, 1972.

He expressed gratitude to the people of India for their support to Bangladesh during the Liberation War.

He spoke about a state of anger and grief over the assassination of Bangabandhu.

“This country became independent because we remained united. But we went our separate ways after ’75. The Razakars (collaborators of the Pakistani forces) did not split, but we did. Otherwise, the country would have become Sonar Bangla (golden Bangla) in 47 years,” he said.

He urged the youths to get the true history of the nation without paying heed to what others say.

Sujeo Shyam also hoped the next generations would sing and keep alive the songs of the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra.

[Born in Sylhet on Mar 14, 1946, Sujeo Shyam is the sixth among 10 siblings. His parents were Nazrul song artistes. One of his younger brothers and a sister are also Bangladesh Betar artistes.

Sujeo joined the then East Pakistan Radio in 1964 as a guitarist and director of children’s song. He joined Dhaka Betar in 1968. He retired as the chief music producer of the Bangladesh Betar in 2001.

He has also directed music for films. His works for the film ‘Hasan Raja‘ earned him his first national award. He received national awards also for ‘Joyjatra’ and ‘Obujh Bou’.

2015 was a year of glory for the musician as he received Shilpakala Padak, Bharat Gourav Award, and Bangladesh’s highest civilian award Swadhinata Padak or Independence Award that year. He was awarded Ekushey Padak this year.]