Eminent singer and freedom fighter Rafiqul Alam’s new Liberation War song has been released on Independence Day this year, written and composed by the late rock legend Ayub Bachchu for the distinguished artist back in 2005.

Rafiqul Alam, who calls Ayub Bachchu “the Van Halen of Bangladesh,” reflected on the time Ayub Bachchu gave him the song “Shadhinota.”

“The posthumous song of Ayub Bachchu is titled 'Shadhinota' which speaks of glorifying 'Shadhinota' (independence) itself. It talks about what 'Shadhinota' is to the people of Bangladesh, how passionate we as a nation are about our Liberation War, and that it was in exchange for blood that we got our independence,” said Rafiqul.

“Back in 2005, when we were working on another project, we discussed collaborating on a song on several occasions, but it didn’t happen for many reasons. At last, he gave me this song, and it was a very sensible choice to give me a song that speaks about our history,” said the veteran singer describing the background journey of the track.

Rafiqul Alam is a renowned playback singer and vocalist, trained by Pundit Haripada Das. In his journey, he has been groomed by several legendary music directors, among whom he calls Satiya Saha his musical father. 

Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra was a milestone in his path, where he performed many of the classic songs both in group and solo during the Liberation War of 1971. “Moder Gorob Moder Asha” was one of these songs.

The music arrangement of “Shadhinota” is performed by Rafiqul's son, Farshid Alam, a singer-songwriter, composer, and bassist. His debut in music arrangement for his father happened through this song.

“The Western and Eastern ratio in the composition of Ayub Bachchu songs has always been 50/50, but, in this case, I think he chose a 40/60 approach (40 being Western and 60 being Eastern) since my father was the singer,” Farshid said. “For me, it was not an easy job to maintain that harmony in my arrangement. I hope I did justice to the song, and I wish Ayub Bachchu could have listened to my arrangement of his composition.”

 The song is available on Rafiqul Alam’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEMFmXASNsk.