They wrote, spoke and sang for our Liberation War

Since the beginning of the 1950s in East Bengal, now Bangladesh, poets, writers, artists, singers, and cultural personalities had immense contribution to the struggles for the Bengali language, Bengali culture, democracy, autonomy and self-determination. From the time that Pakistan came into being, and especially since the Language Movement of 1952, the movements that arose in the fields of art, literature, and culture, profoundly influenced people at all levels of society, alongside the country’s political struggles.

After the Language Movement of 1952, through two long decades of continuous struggle and sacrifice, when in 1971 the people of the country united in an armed struggle against the Pakistani ruling regime, almost all writers, artists, cultural activists, and intellectuals of our country did not limit their responsibility to merely expressing solidarity with this fight. They directly took part in it. Through poetry, songs, theatre, painting, cinema, and other forms, they inspired and motivated people who were either besieged within the country or gathered in camps and elsewhere.

Under the leadership of Wahidul Haque (b. 16 March 1933 – d. 27 January 2007) and Sanjida Khatun (b. 4 April 1933 – d. 25 March 2025), the revolutionary artistes of Bangladesh performed songs in refugee and freedom fighters’ camps and at various gatherings. Led by Quamrul Hassan (b. 2 December 1921 – d. 2 February 1988), artists created paintings and posters. Zahir Raihan made the short documentary Stop Genocide to awaken the conscience of the world against the genocide.

While living in the besieged city of Dhaka, Altaf Mahmud composed songs for independence; Shamsur Rahman wrote poems; and novels were swiftly written by Anwar Pasha and Shahidullah Kaiser. Begum Sufia Kamal (b. 20 June 1911 – d. 20 November 1999) kept a diary of besieged Dhaka. Jahanara Imam (b. 3 May 3, 1929 – d. 26 June 1994) also wrote a diary. After independence, these were published as books. In this way, all cultural practitioners of our country played a brilliant and unforgettable role in the struggle for the nation’s independence and liberation. And it is for this reason that not only Munier Chowdhury, Shahidullah Kaiser, or Altaf Mahmud, but many of the country’s finest intellectuals, writers, and professors were brutally killed by the Pakistani army.

In 1971, while the brave cultural activists of Bangladesh were tirelessly working within the country or in the neighboring ally, India, to inspire people, we also see that on the international stage, renowned artistes, writers, poets, and singers across the world played a significant role in supporting our independence. They stood by us during our days of great calamity, reciting poetry, singing at concerts, creating artwork, and building movements of solidarity. Through meetings, gatherings, and processions, they extended a firm hand to generate sympathy and garner support for our cause among the people of their respective countries.

In this way, they made immense contributions to the international solidarity movement in support of Bangladesh’s war of independence. Even today, hearing their poems and songs, and learning new details about their roles at that time, stirs our hearts and inspires us. Much about them may still remain unknown to us. Will we ever come to know the full extent of the contributions made by so many cultural figures from different parts of the world during those days? We know only about a few of them.

Among those whom we must remember in the foremost ranks are the renowned Argentine writer and admirer of Rabindranath Tagore, Victoria Ocampo; the eminent French humanist and activist writer André Malraux; India’s Pandit Ravi Shankar; the Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr; Nobel Prize-winning poet and singer Bob Dylan; American poet Allen Ginsberg; Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky; Academy Award-winning British actress Glenda Jackson; and American singer Joan Baez, among others.

Is it ever possible for us to forget the rich contributions of almost all artistes, writers, and cultural figures from nearly every language of neighboring India at that time? Filmmaker and writer Satyajit Ray, the late singer Lata Mangeshkar, writer Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, poet Bishnu Dey, writer Mulk Raj Anand, artist MF Husain, actor Raj Kapoor, singer and composer Sachin Dev Burman, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Debabrata Biswas, Suchitra Mitra, Bhupen Hazarika, Salil Chowdhury, poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Kaifi Azmi, writer Dipendranath Bandyopadhyay, Indian cricketer Nawab Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, and many others expressed their solidarity with Bangladesh’s war of independence and offered support in various ways. They took part in whatever ways they could.

In recent years, the poets and artistes I met in Kolkata have also spoken about those days. Throughout all nine months of 1971, nearly all poets, writers, and artistes in Kolkata and across West Bengal worked in various ways in support of Bangladesh. Leading artists KG Subramanyan and Jogen Chowdhury had created artworks based on our struggle of 1971, which they wished to present as gifts to a national institution of Bangladesh.

Many years ago, in an article by my freedom fighter pilot friend Alamgir Sattar published in the weekly Sachitra Sandhani, I learned that many artistes from the film and music industry of Bombay (now Mumbai) expressed their solidarity with Bangladesh’s liberation struggle through various events. The two vice-presidents of the Bangladesh Support Association there were actresses Waheeda Rehman and Sharmila Tagore. As I continued to explore further, I came to learn that not only these two actresses, but almost the entire star community of Bombay were involved in some way or the other in supporting the cause of Bangladesh.

In 1971, writers, artistes and religious leaders of Argentina led the solidarity movement for Bangladesh. On June 11 of that year, a delegation of theirs submitted a memorandum to the Argentine foreign minister demanding that aid be sent to Bangladesh’s freedom fighters. Among those who signed this petition, the first was Victoria Ocampo, the celebrated admirer of Rabindranath Tagore’s Bijoya, who was over eighty at the time. Alongside her were many of Argentina’s finest writers and artistes, including the renowned literary figure Jorge Luis Borges. Victoria Ocampo also led the front of a rally in the capital, Buenos Aires, in support of Bangladesh.

One of the giants of world literature, France’s André Malraux, had also risen powerfully during Bangladesh’s liberation struggle, symbolically pledging to join the armed struggle for Bangladesh. After independence, he toured the country at the invitation of the Bangladesh government. During those dark days of turmoil, his courageous voice gave us immense inspiration.

In 1971, the largest organised effort by singers and artists for Bangladesh was the unforgettable musical event held on 1 August at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main organiser of this event was the sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar. To help the people of Bangladesh, he first contacted George Harrison of the legendary British band The Beatles.

George Harrison stepped forward and proactively coordinated with other artistes. The songs and speeches of the event were recorded on 40 microphones and released as a major album across three LP records. Accompanying it was a beautifully illustrated book of the event, printed in full colour.

The event began with a brief speech by Pandit Ravi Shankar. He played guitar alongside Bob Dylan at the concert. George Harrison, bass guitarist Leon Russell, and Ringo Starr also performed. Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Don Preston, and others sang and played guitar. For this event, George Harrison had written a new song—“Bangladesh.” A few lines from the song are as follows:

My friend came to me
With sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help
Before his country dies
Although I couldn't feel the pain
I knew I had to try
Now I'm asking all of you
To help us save some lives.

This was the final song of the event. Amid the soaring melodies of guitars and other modern instruments, George Harrison’s voice, full of pain yet resolute, along with his noble initiative, stands as one of the most brilliant chapters of international solidarity in the history of Bangladesh’s liberation struggle.

I had long known that on 14 November 1971, at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in England, Academy Award-winning actress Glenda Jackson recited poetry at an event aimed at raising funds for Bangladeshi refugees. While I had known about this event for a long time, I recently obtained much more detailed information about it. The organiser of the London event was Birendreshankar, a distant nephew of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Besides Glenda Jackson, many folk and instrumental artistes from West Bengal and London also participated. Notably, two Bangladeshi folk singers, Moshar Ali and Shah Ali Sarkar, performed at the event. Other participants included West Bengal’s renowned folk singer Nirmalendu Choudhury, singer Sabitabrata Dutta, and our beloved Ruma Guha Thakurta, among others.

At 7:00 in the evening of 20 November 1971, at St. George’s Church in New York, two poets from the world’s two major powers, then divided into two camps, read poetry from the same stage for the first time in support of Bangladesh: Allen Ginsberg from the United States and Andrei Voznesensky from Russia. Thinking of such a scene still grips our hearts. They were joined by poets and writers Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, Kenneth Koch, Ed Sanders, and others. This poetry event was organised by Americans for Bangladesh. They worked to mobilise public support and raise funds for Bangladesh.

The Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg visited India in September 1971 to witness firsthand the suffering of millions of people in Bangladesh. He captured his harrowing experiences in the refugee camps in a long poem titled “September on Jessore Road.” A part of it reads:

Millions of babies watching the skies
Bellies swollen, with big round eyes
On Jessore Road--long bamboo huts
No place to shit but sand channel ruts
Millions of fathers in rain
Millions of mothers in pain
Millions of brothers in woe
Millions of sisters nowhere to go

When we hear Allen Ginsberg’s “September on Jessore Road” sung by Moushumi Bhaumik, the sorrow, pain, and struggle of those days come vividly to mind.

Then again, according to the English daily Dhaka Tribune, on 18 September 1971, a massive rock concert titled “Goodbye Summer: Concert for Bangladesh” was held at the Oval Cricket Ground, famous for cricket, to raise funds in support of Bangladesh’s poverty-stricken refugees. The concert drew an audience of around 35,000 people.

England’s and America’s top rock bands such as The Who, The Faces, Mott the Hoople, Lindisfarne, Quintessence, Atomic Rooster, America, The Grease Band, and Coachies, performed at the concert. I later gathered more fascinating information about this event.

In this way, during Bangladesh’s nine-month Liberation War, renowned poets, artistes, singers, actors, and other creative individuals from various countries stood, directly or indirectly, in support of the cause. The courage and sacrifice of the people of Bangladesh inspired them. Do we truly know all those who extended a hand of love and firmly held our hand during the most perilous days of our lives? Was there nothing we could do to honour their unwavering support for our struggle and their love for us?

I have pondered over the manner and very often have discussed with friends, what if these noble and world-renowned writers and artistes had been invited to Bangladesh? What if a grand event had been organised with them at Dhaka Stadium? What if they had been honoured in front of hundreds of thousands at Suhrawardy Udyan? For a long time, I imagined such a scene: on a massive post-independence stage at Dhaka Stadium or Suhrawardy Udyan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Lata Mangeshkar, Bob Dylan, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, George Harrison, Allen Ginsberg, Suchitra Mitra, Bhupen Hazarika and others creating a world resplendent with words and music. Even though it seemed like a dream, imagining such a scene moved me to tears many times.

With this sentiment in mind, in January 2011, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence, I planned to bring Pandit Ravi Shankar to Dhaka for a grand reception. He had agreed to come. Almost all arrangements were made, but suddenly he Ravi Shankar fell ill and could not come. The following year, I tried again. I went to Delhi to meet him. He promised he would come if possible, but he still could not.

Alongside international political and diplomatic solidarity, the multifaceted contributions of foreign relatives, poets, writers, and artistes played an especially significant role in Bangladesh’s armed Liberation War. Their sympathy and love inspired and strengthened Bangladesh’s writers, artistes, poets, actors, composers, singers, and freedom fighters in their spontaneous struggle. We will never forget them. We are eternally grateful.

*Matiur Rahman is the Editor of Prothom Alo. This is the English translation of his article published on 26 March 2026 in Prothom Alo.