Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano Ekushey February is a Bengali song which was written by Abdul Gaffar Choudhury

Abdul Gaffar Choudhury

Abdul Gaffar Choudhury , is a Bangladeshi author and rpo-Awami league columnist, perhaps best known for his lyric Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano -- which has become the main song commemorating the Language Movement, the touchy music having been composed by Shaheed Altaf Mahmud.-Life:He left Bangladesh...

 to mark the Bengali Language Movement in the 1950s in East Pakistan

East Pakistan

East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...

. The song title is translated as My Brothers Blood Spattered or My Brothers Blood Spattered 21 February. The motif of the song is

Can I forget the twenty-first of February

incarnadined by the love of my brother?

The twenty-first of February, built by the tears

of a hundred mothers robbed of their sons,

Can I ever forget it?

Wake up all serpents,

wake up all summer thunder-storms,

let the whole world rise up

in anger and protest against the massacre of innocent children.

They tried to crush the demand of the people

by murdering the golden sons of the land.

Can they get away with it

at this hour when the times are poised

for a radical change?

No, no, no, no,

In the history reddened by blood

the final verdict has been given already

by the twenty-first of February.

It was a smooth and pleasant night,

with the winter nearly gone

and the moon smiling in the blue sky

and lovely fragrant flowers blossoming on the roadside,

and all of a sudden rose a storm,

fierce like a wild horde of savage beasts.

Even in the darkness we know who those beasts were.

On them we shower the bitterest hatred

of all mothers brothers and sisters.

They fired at the soul of this land,

They tried to silence the demand of the people,

They kicked at the bosom of Bengal.

They did not belong to this country.

They wanted to sell away her good fortune.

They robbed the people of food, clothing and peace.

On them we shower our bitterest hatred.

Wake up today, the twenty-first of February.

do wake you, please.

Our heroic boys and girls still languish in the prisons of the tyrant.

The souls of my martyred brothers still cry.

But today everywhere the somnolent strength

of the people have begun to stir

and we shall set February ablaze

by the flame of our fierce anger.

How can I ever forget the twenty-first of February?

[Translated by Kabir Chowdhury]

Later, the song was recognized as the most influential song of the Language Movement. The song is sung every year in the probhat feri, the march in barefoot towards the Shaheed Minar

Shaheed Minar

The Shaheed Minar is a national monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established to commemorate those killed during the Language Movement demonstrations of 1952....

 to pay homage to the martyrs. The song was first set to music by Abdul Latif, but later the composer Altaf Mahmud

Altaf Mahmud

Altaf Mahmud was a musician, cultural activist and martyred freedom fighter of the Bangladesh Liberation War...

 changed the tune to the present version. It is regarded by the listeners of BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Bengali Service as the third best song in Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

.

Writing of the song

The song was first published anonymously in the last page of [insert newspaper name] with the headline Ekusher Gaan (the song of the twenty first). It was later published in Ekushey's February edition in paper.

The song was initially written as a poem. The cultural secretary of Juboleague gave the poem to Abdul Latif to put to a tune. Afterwards, Latif Atikul Islam first sang the song. The students of Dhaka College

Dhaka College

, located in Dhaka, is one of Bangladesh's earliest and most prestigious higher educational institutions. It offers both four years bachelor's and one years masters course in various majors, but it is best known for HSC...

 also sung the song when they attempted to build a Shaheed Minar

Shaheed Minar

The Shaheed Minar is a national monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established to commemorate those killed during the Language Movement demonstrations of 1952....

 on their college premises. For this action, they were expelled from the college. Abdul Gaffar Choudhury wrote this song on the bedside of an injured language movement activist who was shot by the Pakistani military police.

Later Altaf Mahmud, a renowned composer and a martyr of the Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....

, recomposed the song from Abdul Latif's version. This is now the official tune for the song. Every year on 21 February, people from all parts of the Bangladesh head to the Shaheed Minar to pay homage to those killed in the language movement demonstrations by singing Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano.