About the artist
Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) was a towering Bengali poet, writer, and musician, revered as the national poet of Bangladesh and celebrated across the Bengali-speaking world, including West Bengal in India. Known as the Bidrohi Kobi, or Rebel Poet, he wrote fiercely against colonial oppression, social injustice, and religious bigotry, while also producing deeply devotional and romantic verse, reflecting a rare range that spanned revolution and spirituality alike.
As a musician and composer, Nazrul created a vast body of songs, thousands in number, that together form their own genre known as Nazrul Sangeet. His compositions drew on Bengali folk traditions, Hindustani classical music, and Islamic devotional forms, including ghazals, hamd, and naat, alongside songs rooted in Hindu devotional themes, embodying a syncretic, pluralistic vision of Bengali culture that crossed religious lines.
His best-known devotional and Islamic songs, addressing themes like Eid, Ramadan, Medina, and the Prophet, remain deeply beloved and are performed widely during religious occasions in Bangladesh and Bengali communities. Nazrul's legacy endures not only in his poetry, much of it studied as a cornerstone of modern Bengali literature, but in a living musical tradition still performed and recorded today.