Kazi Nazrul Islam

Kazi Nazrul Islam (Biography)

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• published: 12 Jun 2016
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Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম, pronounced: [kadʒi nodʒrul islam]) (24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bangladeshi [2] poet, writer, musician, and revolutionary, and is the national poet of Bangladesh. Popularly known as Nazrul, he produced a large body of poetry and music that included themes of Islamic renaissance and spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression.[3] Nazrul's activism for political and social justice earned him the title of the "Rebel Poet" (Bengali: বিদ্রোহী কবি; Bidrohi Kobi).[4] His compositions form the avant-garde genre of Nazrul Sangeet (Music of Nazrul). In addition to being revered in Bangladesh, he is also commemorated and revered in India, especially in West Bengal and Tripura.[5][6][7] Born into a Bengali Muslim Quazi (Kazi) family, Nazrul received religious education and as a young man worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned about poetry, drama, and literature while working with the rural theatrical group Letor Dal. After serving in the British Indian Army in the Middle East during World War I, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Calcutta. He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as Bidrohi (The Rebel) and Bhangar Gaan (The Song of Destruction), as well as his publication Dhumketu (The Comet). His nationalist activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the Rajbandir Jabanbandi (Deposition of a Political Prisoner). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of the Indian subcontinent, Nazrul worked for their emancipation. His writings greatly inspired the Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Nazrul's writings explore themes such as love, freedom, and revolution; he opposed all bigotry, including religious and gender-based. Throughout his career, Nazrul wrote short stories, novels, and essays but is best known for his songs and poems, in which he pioneered new forms such as Bengali ghazals. Nazrul wrote and composed music for his nearly 4,000 songs (many recorded on gramophone records),[8] collectively known as Nazrul geeti (Songs of Nazrul), which are widely popular today. In 1942 at the age of 43 he began suffering from an unknown disease, losing his voice and memory. It was rumoured that the reason was slow poisoning by the British Government, but later a medical team in Vienna diagnosed the disease as Morbus Pick,[9] a rare incurable neurodegenerative disease. It caused Nazrul's health to decline steadily and forced him to live in isolation for many years. At the invitation of the Government of Bangladesh, Nazrul and his family moved to Dhaka in 1972. He died four years later, on 29 August 1976.