Legions of fans, friends, well-wishers and contemporaries poured into the Capital’s Central Shaheed Minar on Friday (Oct 19) to pay their last respects to guitar maestro Ayub Bachchu.
A freezing van carrying the deceased rock star left Square Hospital around 10 am for the scheduled tribute paying programme, organized by the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote.
His body was kept at the Shaheed Minar until 12:30pm where Cultural Minister Asaduzzaman Nur, Transport Minister Obaidul Quader, musicians Syed Abdul Hadi, Nakib Khan, Kumar Biswajit, Tapan Chowdhury, Fuad Naser Babu, Rafiqul Alam, Fakir Alamgir, Kazi Hablu, Prince Mahmud, Manam Ahmed said their final goodbyes to the musical genius.
Actors Suborna Mustafa, Faisal, Lutfor Rahman George, Shatabdi Wadud, director Salahuddin Labhlu, band members of LRB and other musicians of the country were also part of the crowd that reached as far as Chankharpul.
Bachchu’s body was then taken to National Eidgah Maidan for his namaz-e-janaza which took place after the Jummah prayers and was attended by hundreds and thousands of people.
His second namaz-e-janaza took place at the Quazi office road in Moghbazar where his residence and studio AB Kitchen is located.
His third namaz-e-janaza was held at the Channel i premises and he will be brought back to Square Hospital from there.
The rock musician will be laid to rest beside his mother at the family graveyard at his ancestral home in Chattogram on Saturday (Oct 20).
The LRB frontman breathed his last on Thursday morning following a cardiac arrest at his Magbazar residence at the age of 56 leaving behind his wife, a son and a daughter alongside a huge number of relatives, disciples and admirers to mourn his death.
LRB sources said, as the prominent singer fell ill he was rushed to Square Hospital around 9am Thursday where the on-call doctors declared him dead.
In 2009, Bachchu underwent heart valve surgery and was a regular patient at the hospital, Square Hospital’s Director of Medical Services Dr Mirza Nizamuddin told media.
President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed their condolences over the musician's death.
Born in Chattogram in 1962, Bachchu started his music career in the port city with the band Feelings in 1978. From 1980 to 1990, he was the lead guitarist of Souls before forming his own band LRB in 1991.
The next year, LRB released a self-titled double album, a first in Bangladesh, and immediately shot up to fame with hard rock numbers like "Madhobi" "Hawker", "Dhakar Sondhya" and “Ghum Bhanga Shohore”.
The album not only showed Bachchu’s creative abilities but also paved the way for him to become a musical maestro.
In the following years, LRB released 11 more studio albums — “Shukh” (1993), “Tobuo” (1994), “Ghumanto Shahare” (1995), “Shwapno” (1996), double album “Amader Bishmoy!” 1 & 2 (1998), “Mon Chaile Mon Pabe” (2000), “Achena Jibon” (2003), “Mone Achhe Naki Nai” (2005), “Sparsho” (2008), “Juddho” (2012) and “Rakhe Allah Mare Ke” (2016).
In 1996, LRB became the first Bangladeshi band to release a live unplugged album — “Ferari Mon”.
Bachchu pursued a solo career, way before forming LRB. In 1986, when he was the lead guitarist of Souls, his first solo album “Rokto Golap” was released followed by “Moyna” in 1988.
His 1995 solo album titled “Koshto” was a huge hit. In the following years, he released several more solo albums — “Shomoy” (1998) , “Eka” (1999),”Prem Tumi Ki” (2002), “Duti Mon” (2002), “Kafela” (2002), “Rimjhim Brishti” (2008), “Bolini Kokhono” (2009) and “Jiboner Golpo” (2015).
