"Ekusher Gaan" ( bn, একুশের গান "The Song of Twentyfirst"), more popularly known (after its first line) as "''Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano''" ( bn, আমার ভাইয়ের রক্তে রাঙানো "My Brothers' Blood Spattered") is a Bengali song written by

Abdul Gaffar Choudhury Abdul Gaffar Choudhury (12 December 1934 – 19 May 2022) was a Bangladeshi-born British writer, journalist, columnist, political analyst and poet. He wrote the lyrics to "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano", a widely celebrated song commemorating the ...

to mark the Bengali Language Movement in 1952

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. It was first published anonymously in the last page of a newspaper with the headline ''Ekusher Gaan'', but was later published in ''Ekushey''s February edition. The song was initially written as a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

at the bedside of an injured language movement activist who was shot by the Pakistani military police. The cultural secretary of the

Jubo League The Bangladesh Awami Jubo League ( bn, বাংলাদেশ আওয়ামী যুবলীগ) commonly known as the Jubo League, is the first youth organization of Bangladesh founded by Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani. It is the youth wing o ...

gave the poem to

Abdul Latif Abdul Latif ( ar, عبد اللطيف, translit=ʻAbd al-Laṭīf) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Laṭīf'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which gave rise to ...

to put to a tune, which Latif Atikul Islam first sang. The students of

Dhaka College Dhaka College ( bn, ঢাকা কলেজ also known as DC) is the oldest secular educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhaka. It offers higher secondary education ( HSC). It has Honours and Masters programs as well which are aff ...

also sung the song when they attempted to build a Shaheed Minar on their college premises, getting them expelled from the college.

Altaf Mahmud Altaf Mahmud ( bn, আলতাফ মাহমুদ; 23 December 1933 – September 1971) was a musician, cultural activist, and martyred freedom fighter of the Bangladesh Liberation War. He was also a language activist of the Language Movement ...

, a renowned composer and a martyr of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

, recomposed the song using Abdul Latif's version, which is now a quasi-official tune. The song is often recognized as the most influential song of the language movement, reminding numerous Bangladeshis about the conflicts of 1952. Every

21 February Events Pre-1600 * 452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. *1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. * 1440 – The Prus ...

sees people from all parts of the

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

heading to the Shaheed Minar in the ''probhat feri'', a barefoot march to the monument, paying homage to those killed in the language movement demonstrations by singing this song. It is regarded by the listeners of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Bengali Service as the third best song in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

translation below was rendered by

Kabir Chowdhury Kabir Chowdhury (9 February 1923 – 13 December 2011) was a Bangladeshi academic, essayist, materialist, translator, cultural worker and civil society activist. Early life and education Chowdhury was born in Brahmanbaria of the then Tipperah d ...

.Glassie, Henry and Mahmud, Feroz.2008.Living Traditions. Cultural Survey of Bangladesh Series-II. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Dhaka. pp.578–579

Lyrics

Citations

References

* {{Language Movement Bengali-language literature Bangladeshi music Bangladeshi patriotic songs Bangladeshi songs Bengali-language songs Bengali language movement Songs about language History of Pakistan