Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Mon Amar Deho Ghori

♬ Manoosh O Banaiya

Bangladesh has always been on my radar. For some reason, I’ve always had difficulty finding records from there. But this record? I did not even know about it until I stumbled upon it.

Fakir Alamgir / ফকির আলমগীর was one of the leading exponents of Gono Sangeet – the songs of the masses – in Bangladesh. Synonymous with voicing out for the rights of the voiceless – the perceived weak, the workers and the voiceless, he was one of the most beloved artistes of his generation.

Alamgir was born in Faridpur in 1950 – which at that time was East Pakistan. He started his music career in 1966. During his student life, he was active in politics. He was a student of Mass Communication and Journalism in Dhaka University.

Alamgir played an important role as a member of the cultural organizations Kranti Shilpi Gosthi and Gono Shilpi Gosthi, during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan. He also worked with Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra / স্বাধীন বাংলা বেতার কেন্দ্র (Free Bengal Radio Centre) which was the radio broadcasting center of Bengali nationalist forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Catalog number MLP-0031 on Bangladesh Gramophone. No release date listed.