| AdminHistory | Ansar Ahmed Ullah is a community activist who has lived and worked in the East End of London since the 1980s. He has worked as a youth, social and community worker and has been an active anti-racist campaigner. He has been involved with the Labour Party, a member of Joi Bangla Banned a 1990s Bengali rock band, Gravity and Bangladesh Support Group (BASUG).
Joi Bangla Banned began with a youth organisation, the League of Joi Bangla Youth. Three separate entities originated from this youth organisation. Initially, some members Shamsher brothers and others of the organisation formed Joi Bangla Sounds (later known as Joi - an alternative dub/dance music DJ team). It was a sound system with DJs who went on to produce records. Then Joi Bangla Crew was formed to accompany Joi Bangla sounds - a dance outfit. And finally the Joi Bangla Banned was formed in East London in 1988. This was a conventional rock band which Ansar was involved in, active from late 1988 to circa 1992 when it stopped performing.
Genre: Bengali Pop/Rock
Styles: Asian underground; Contemporary Bengali Pop/Rock
Group Members:
Ansar Ahmed Ullah, founder. lead member & vocalist
Samiul Islam June, founder, vocalist & keyboard
Fatima Matin, vocalist & rapper
Ezra Ahmed Obin, lead guitar
Abdul Ahmed, bass guitar
Mushtaq Ahmed, drums
Sharif Rothman - Rapper
Shihab Salim Joy - Rapper
Sasha - Rapper/dancer
Deedar -rapper
Koysor - English vocalist
Tanveer Pasha - vocalist, lead guitar
Sultan Ahmed - bass
Eshita Azad, singer
Amin Rahman, keyboard
Tipu Uddin, musician
Qadir, musician
John Pulman, musician, acoustic guitar
Manager
Rubina Ullah
Songs:
Aami jaa re chi re - Azam Khan
Rongin bhalobasha - Shihab Salim Joy
Ashi ashi bole tumi - Azak Khan
Se kun dorodiya amaar - Miles
Bangladesh -Rail liner oi boshtite - Azam Khan
Ore Saleka - Azam Khan
Obhimani - Azam Khan
Sraboner meghgulu juro holo akahe -
High Courter Majare - Azam Khan
Din Chole jai
Amaar shob diyechi jaa ke - composed by Ansar, music by Manna Haq
Tomake bhalobeshe - Manna Haq
Bole chile kache eshe, kache bosho - moulik
Performances:
1989:
15 July - Stepney Festival
Berner Festival, off Cannon Street Road
Boundary Festival, Shoreditch
9 Sept - Globe Town Festival
Tom Allen Centre, Stratford
24 Sept - Bradford Mela
Cockpit Theatre
Willsdengreen Library Centre, Brent
Watermans Centre, Brentford
Montefiore Centre, Hanbury Street
2 Dec - World Aids Day Concert at Halfmoon Theatre
3 Dec - Bangladesh Youth League Luton event at Beech Hill School, Luton, Bedfordshire
1990:
13 Jan - Concert in aid of striking ambulance workers, Brady Centre
Templars School
16 July - Guildhall Ensemble, Guildhall School of music and drama at St George in the East Church Crypt
1 July - Spitalfields Farm Festival
Appearances:
ITV - Young British & Muslims
Ch 4 - 1990 Bandbaja
1991:
19 May - Bangladesh Cyclone Fund Concert by Bangladesh Welfare Association, Croydon, Stanley Hall, South Norwood
8 June - Toc H fund raising benefit, Newark Street
28 July - Bethnal Green
29 July - Cyclone Concert by Marylebone Bangladesh Society at North Westminster School
Lark in the Park, Millwall Park
19 Aug - Rock Garden
15 Sept - Watermans, Brentford
Asian Music Festival, Bridge Park Complex, Harlesden
Ansar also member of the Management Committee of Swadhinata Trust. The Swadhinata Trust is a project of the Nirmul Committee created in 2000 to work and promote Bengali heritage with young people on a voluntary basis. Mr. Ullah was one of the founding members of Baishakhi Mela representing Nirmul Committee which was founded in 1992. He sat on the Committee on behalf of Council's Regeneration Officer because the department funded the Baishakhi Mela. As a member Mr. Ullah received papers related to Baishakhi Mela in which Banglatown Arts & Cultural Trust was one of the organiser. In his role as a Council Officer for the Regeneration Department, Mr. Ullah also received papers relating to Brick Lane Festival.
Ansar also founding member and the Organising Secretary of Altab Ali Foundation established in 2010 as Altab Ali Memorial Foundation. Therefore, he keeps/collects materials related to Altab Ali Park. The park was renamed Altab Ali Park in 1998 in memory of Altab Ali, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi clothing worker, who was murdered on 4 May 1978 in Adler Street by three teenage boys as he walked home from work. At the entrance to the park is an arch created by David Peterson, developed as a memorial to Altab Ali and other victims of racist attacks.
The Shaheed Minar ("Martyr Monument"), which commemorates the Bengali Language Movement stands in the southwest corner of Altab Ali Park. This is where the ceremony takes place. The monument is a smaller replica of one in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and symbolises a mother and the martyred sons. |
| CustodialHistory | Some of these records were collected as part of a Bengali Collections Development project by Shahera Begum, Heritage Trainee during 2011. For the brochure 'The Bengali East End: Histories of Life and Work in Tower Hamlets'. Visit https://www.ideastore.co.uk/local-history-online-oral-history-bengali-east-end
This material significantly broadened the range of collections from and about the Bengali community in Tower Hamlets. If you would like to add further material to our collections please contact us. |