Coke Studio Bangla season 1 ends with 'Hey Samalo'

Coke Studio Bangla's new track "Dokhino Hawa" is voiced by popular singer Tahsan Khan and Indian singer Madhubanti Bagchi

After releasing nine fusion songs since its launching in February of this year, season one of Coke Studio Bangla came to a conclusion with the launch of the latest song, "Hey Samalo."

The team of Coke Studio Bangla released this song at a gala event, with an exclusive screening for 500 fans at hotel Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden on Thursday night.

A tribute to the undying spirit and the rebelling nature that can be found among all Bangladeshi netizens, the song came as a majestic fusion of Salil Chowdhury's 1946-1948 Tebhaga Movement-inspired original song of the same name and Abdul Latif's 1952 Language Movement-inspired song "Ora Amar Mukher Bhasha."

The biggest artistic collaboration of the season, "Hey Samalo" is sung by 15 prominent Bangladeshi singers including, Bappa Mazumder, Samina Chowdhury, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, Sunidhi Nayak, Rituraj Baidya, Dilshad Nahar Kona, Warda Ashraf, Armeen Musa, Sanzida Mahmood Nandita, Masha Islam, Rubayat Rehman, Jannatul Firdous Akbar, Sinha Hasan, Ripon Kumar Sarkar (Boga Taleb), and Animes Roy.

The music video of the song also contains musicians belonging to the Mro community in Naikhongchari of Bandarban, who performed a mesmerising flute performance, along with a Raibenshe folk martial dance.

Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, Music Producer of Coke Studio Bangla said, "We tried to explore something different for the finale by using Gono Sangeet in an effort to bring musicians and artists from different genres and backgrounds in unison. Everyone synced together beautifully, and the bond we created through this song was the real magic."

"This song brings out the undying spirit of the Bangladeshi people and I hope our audience will feel the same passion we felt when we sang it together," he added.

"Bengalis have always fought for their rights throughout their lifetimes, whether it was during the anti-British movement, the struggle for independence from Pakistan, the fight for our mother tongue, or the anti-dictatorship movement. We wanted to close the first season with the spiritual strength that our nation never lost," said Coke Studio Bangla Creative Producer, Syed Gousul Alam Shaon about the song.

The maiden season of Coke Studio Bangla featured a total of 10 songs from different genres including its rocking opener "Nasek Nasek" followed by "Prarthona", "Bulbuli", "Bhober Pagol", "Chiltey Roud", "Bhinnotar Uthshob", "Shob Lokey Koy", "Lilabali", "Dokhina Hawa" and lastly, "Hey Samalo."

The season featured a star-studded lineup of Bangladeshi legendary musicians, such as Momtaz Begum, Bappa Majumdar, Pantha Kanai, Dilshad Nahar Kona, Samina Chowdhury, Mizan, Tahsan Khan and more, along with new promising singers from music industry such as Animesh Roy, Boga Taleb, Nandita, Makhon and others.