Culture Desk
Wearing colorful t-shirts and paper-made bracelets youths in hundreds have joined the long-awaited youth-centric annual “Joy Bangla Concert”, the largest musical extravaganza, at the Bangladesh Army Stadium that started yesterday afternoon.
The concert is being staged on a red-letter day when the nation is observing the historic 7th March commemorating the landmark speech by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman which was touted as indirect declaration of the country’s independence in 1971.
Under the supervision of Centre for Research and Information (CRI), Young Bangla, one of the leading youth networks of Bangladesh, is hosting the mega event to revive the Liberation War spirit among youths.
At the concert, leading musical bands are performing one song each from the list of patriotic songs played from the Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, the rebel radio station that kept up the morale of the freedom fighters and also the countrymen in 1971 Liberation War.
“A huge number of people specially youths have joined the concert. We have got a huge response from the youths. Still now huge crowds are standing in queues in front of the stadium to enter the venue,” CRI Associate Coordinator Engineer Tonmoy Ahmed told BSS this evening.
He said the Young Bangla has been organising the concert every year since 2015.
“The celebration has now become more significant as the UNESCO has recognized the landmark speech of Bangabandhu as a world documentary heritage on October 30, 2017,” he said.
He said leading bands — Artcell, Chirkutt, Lalon, Arbovirus, Shunno, Nemesis, Cryptic Fate and Bay of Bengal — are performing in the concert to mesmerize the fans with rock music.
The entry to the mega event at the Army Stadium was totally free this year like previous editions as the spectators’ just needed to make online registration, Ahmed added.
The CRI associate coordinator said entry gates were opened at 01:30 pm while there was a separate entry point at the venue for female audiences.
In the last three years, around 60,000 youths, altogether, enjoyed the concert at the venue while 90,000 watched live-streaming on different social media sites and various organisations’ websites and millions viewed on prominent TV channels.
Hundreds of youths imbued with the spirit of Liberation War gathered at the stadium to recall the day and celebrate independence with the Bangla rock music.
