The Lingering Echoes of '71
Rock music is often dismissed by the more serious practitioners of music in our country as noisy, purposeless music alienated from our culture and society. Being rebellious and in a closed bubble has been a characteristic of rock music across the world, but in Bangladesh -- even the moderately established rock bands all have at least one patriotic song.
Brigade 71 was never one of the most prominent acts in the country's rock scene, but the name suggests, members of the band held the glorious history of the Liberation War close to their hearts. Their 2009 album “The Echoes of '71” is a great document that our youth and rock music are not distanced from our country's history.
The album opens with the familiar “Teer Hara Ei Dheu'er Sagor”, driving into a powerful lead-guitar intro. The struggle and indomitable spirit portrayed in the song is interpreted perfectly, particularly with a transitioning third verse that gets really quiet and then builds up to a bursting outro.
“Abar Juddho” and “Sada Kalo”, the next two songs, are original compositions of the band. The first, an angst-ridden composition, speaks of the history of the struggle, and how another struggle may be imminent for the country. The other is a mellow number; the lyrics are abstract and poetic, lamenting a demised Freedom Fighter friend.
“Nongor Tolo”, another familiar inspirational song during the Liberation War, is covered next, in an upbeat tempo reminiscent of old pop-rock, but capturing the essence of the song nicely.
The next track opens with some of the most powerful lines of Bangabandhu's historic March 7 address, and fades into crunchy guitar-playing to the song “Rokto Diye Naam Likhechi”. The vocal ranges on display are impressive, as is the overall instrumental arrangement.
The cover of “Sona'y Morano Bangla” begins with an audio sample of the declaration of Bangladesh's Independence, and goes into a galloping track with expressive vocal works.
“Mora Ekti Phool Ke Bachabo Bole”, another iconic song of the Liberation War, is next, and is one of the standouts of the album. On a sombre acoustic guitar-plucked track and with emotion-rich vocal work, it could be instrumentally the best interpretation of the song possible.
Nazrul's “Durgom Giri” is the next in queue, and makes good use of having two vocals in the band. Instrumentally, it's not all too striking, and the song sung in a rather low vocal range.
The album ends with “Purbo Digonte”, with grungy guitar riffs. Although the bass-line is interesting, the song doesn't really reach its potential.
It may not have been the most high-class album in terms of overall musical prowess and ingenuity, but the fact that the band decided to interpret such important music in the history of the country, is commendable.
Comments