Shayan is an activist at heart, and her tune is identified for its distinctive kind— ‘bellow songs’. Her ardour for it used to be viewed as she walked on the stage with her head held excessive, a Palestinian Keffiyeh hung spherical her neck, and took a second to commemorate the martyrs of the July riot.
Friday evening (22 November) used to be a take care of for followers of singer Farzana Wahid Shayan. After a two-year spoil, the artist returned to the stage with a solo show, successful hearts with her tune.
The concert titled ‘Gaane Gaane Shayan,’ organised by Aajob Karkhana, took space on the Nationwide Artwork Gallery Auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
By manner of Shayan, you’re going to be in a local to below no circumstances reasonably separate the activist in her from the musician, which is why she devoted her efficiency to the full martyrs of the July riot.
“I’m now not fair. I stand with the oppressed, for justice and truth. Music is my language. I train and categorical my feelings thru it,” elaborated Shayan.
Consisting of 19 songs, the show used to be divided into two segments. The critical 12 songs were dedicated to as much as date factors, such because the struggles of indigenous minorities and females’s rights.
Sooner than she started her efficiency, she spoke out to the crowd, boldly making her stances on social factors very determined.
“I pray for the destruction of rapists and sexual abusers. I abominate those which luxuriate in the good thing about belittling folk of diversified religions, even of their concepts. I bellow a political battle in opposition to those that oppose multi-occasion democracy,”she stated.
With a guitar in hand, a harmonica around the neck, and a keyboard in front, the musician started the evening.
Alongside her ardour for activism and tune, it furthermore turns out that Shayan is a master storyteller. It gave the affect the precise combine for somebody whose design used to be to spread a message.
She equipped a little bit context on the encourage of every tune thru stories, making their messages determined as day.
‘Let me clarify you a story of a lady. She lived within the hills and spoke up for her community’s rights,” started Shayan. “One day, she used to be taken away by someone. For years, the case remained unresolved, and the trial below no circumstances stepped forward. And then? She has below no circumstances returned to this day. The girl’s identify used to be Kalpana Chakma.”
Shayan’s activism doesn’t loyal persist with the borders of Bangladesh.
She incorporated one amongst her renowned songs, ‘Meyera Raat Dokhol Kor’, dedicated to Moumita Debnath–a trainee doctor who used to be brutally raped and murdered at Kolkata’s RG Kar Scientific College Scientific institution.
Her efficiency, as raw and emotional as ever, moved everybody within the room, in conjunction with myself. The words, “Ei meye shon, ei raat ei bhor— jotokhani purusher, totokhani tor” (Listen, girl, this evening, this spoil of day— is as great yours because it is a particular person’s comprise), level-headed echo in my mind.
It gave the affect love the voices of the silenced— love Abrar Fahad who used to be murdered, garment workers denied lovely wages, and the helpless folk from a ways-off Palestine— all perceived to advise out thru Shayan’s issue.
I felt a restful fear spread across the gallery of 200 folk.
And even amongst these heavy subject matters, she managed to web a chortle out of the viewers thru her satirical tune ‘Rani Ma’, which calls on Sheikh Hasina to attain encourage dwelling to face justice.
The second segment used to be a little bit more lighthearted, focusing more on existence, love, and separation. She concluded with one amongst her most traditional songs, ‘Ek Hariye Jawa Bondhur Shathe’, which conjures up reminiscences of a misplaced childhood friend.
After an evening of paying consideration to Shayan, one element is clear; Shayan has created a contemporary language for activism.
