The bands that rocked the ‘Joy Bangla Concert’ stage in previous years reminisced their special moments about the past episodes and rendered songs online as the concert has been halted this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
On its official Facebook page, Young Bangla, a leading youth platform of CRI (Centre for Research & Information), aired the virtual event featuring talks by the bands' members, their songs, and visuals narrating the historic events that the concert is themed on. Since 2015, Young Bangla has been featuring the Joy Bangla Concert every year paying tribute to the Father of the Nation's historic March 7 speech.
A surge of energy ran through 40,000 to 50,000 youths during the event that brought the wartime patriotic melodies and western-influenced melodies together, presenting history through music. This year the concert couldn't be organised as the Coronavirus spell is still going on. Instead, a virtual programme was organised by Young Bangla to air the vignettes shared by the bands about their past performances in the concert.
Members of ‘Shunno’, ‘Cryptic Fate’, ‘Artcell’, ‘Lalon’, ‘Warfaze’, ‘Chirkutt’, and ‘Powersurge’ joined the virtual event on Sunday.
"In 2015, when ‘Joy Bangla Concert’ was organised for the first time, we were really excited. We were also a bit tensed as we were the opening performers. But, when we were on the stage, we saw that the stadium was already full. It was one of the best experiences of our life," said Emil, the vocalist of ‘Shunno’.
"The 2020 concert was very special for us as the prime minister attended it. That time we were on the stage. It was a great achievement for us. In March 2020, our favourite captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza retired from captaincy. When we were performing in Joy Bangla Concert, we dedicated the song 'Shoto Asha' to him," said Ishmam, the guitarist of ‘Shunno’. —UNB