Remembering voices: Singing and critical cosmopolitan memory in the Bengali diaspora

This article provides a critical case study of the singing of the Kazi Nazrul Islam song ‘Karar O’ Lohou Kapat’ (Break Down the Iron Doors), by members of the Bangladeshi cultural organisation Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, in Tower Hamlets London, in 2022, 100 years after the song was originally penned, to analyse the affect of memories mobilised through singing, and their relationship to diasporic identity formation. We synthesise perspectives from postcolonial diaspora studies, memory studies and sound studies to bring a communication-focused lens to understand the specific ways in which sonic memory is mobilised through collective singing. We argue that the shared affect produced through the repeated collective singing of this song solidifies the markers of kinship and community that maintain cultural continuity and a unique sense of Bangladeshi national identity in the post-colonial context of East London diaspora. This is also tied to the song’s deep resonances with the complex historical contestations of Bangladesh, especially in navigating the complicated legacy of the 1971 Liberation War. ‘Karar O’ Lohou Kapat’ acts as a site for reflection and struggle over dominant and emerging ideologies of nationhood, in relation with new spaces of belonging and visions of home, as diasporic sociality redraws the frameworks of interpretation for those telling and those receiving the memory. We use the concept of ‘critical cosmopolitanism’ to draw attention to the transformative power of this memory in the present. This multifaceted analysis of our ethnographic fieldwork addresses the relationship between memory, diasporic identity and cosmopolitanism to develop an explanatory framework in this critical instance of post-colonial memory making.