Musician & Composer: Dilly Meah

I arrived at Heathrow Airport and landed in the dreamland of Yorkshire, England, for a beautiful future and a better life. In 1976 it was the hottest summer of the year in the UK almost like Bangladesh. Later at the end of December 1976 or at the beginning of January 1977, I moved to London the largest historic and oldest city in the World, to join my maternal cousins Faruk Ali and Yousuf Ali in an upstairs flat at 39 Princelet St. East London flourished through the rag trade of Jewish-controlled clothiers and tanneries, which were later adopted by the people of Sylhet as they worked hard and long hours in the textile industry. The Asian people walking alone in East London were an easy target for the racist attacker so the Asiatic people had to make a group and then walk to the bus stop and underground train station. Racist attacks on Brick Lane were regular, especially at the Sunday market. The Eastern teddy boys group gathered in Sunday market to vandalise the front of an Asian shop and Sylheti grocery store in Brick Lane, breaking glass bottles of alcohol and throwing pebbles through the windows of Asian houses in Cheshire Street, Sclater St, Hanbury St, Princelet St. Where some of the vigilante groups of Sylheti/Bengali youngsters fought back, such as Noor Miah from Shaharpara, Reyasat Ullah aka Faruk Bhai from Bishwanath Upazila and Azad Bhai from Balaganj Upazila now Osmani Nagar Upazila were renowned to the local Bengali community for defending the victims from the racist attacks.

And every Sunday Bangladeshi people and even white and BME (black and minority ethnic) activists from all around London came to gather in Brick Lane's Indian, Pakistani, Sylheti, Bengali and Bangladeshi cafes to protest against the racism and sometimes fought back against the attacker (who was known to be a skinhead) alongside the community's brave youth and adults. The original skinhead subculture started in the late 1960s and had heavy British mod and Jamaican rude boy influence-including an appreciation for the black music genres ska, soul music and early reggae.

The identity of skinheads in the 60s was neither based on white power nor neo-fascism, but some skinheads (including black skinheads) had engaged in "gay-bashing", "hippie-bashing" and/or "Paki-bashing" (violence against Pakistanis and other Asian immigrants).

Vigilance groups were formed before the racist killing of Aftab Ali, but it was not heard by many, and some people were against this vigilance group as it could make things worse. Those youngsters were Noor Miah of Shaharpara of Jagannathpur, Reyasat Ullah commonly known as Faruk also spelt Farooq Miah of Bishwanath, Azad Miah of Balaganj presently Osmani Nagar and many others from Greater Sylhet. Many times, Noor Bhai was stabbed by racists and Farooq Bhai, but it did not stop them from helping their Bengali friends.

The assassination of Altab Ali on the 4th of May 1978, united Bengalis and united the voice of the war against apartheid. Many Bengalis were killed and maimed by racists' knives before Altab Ali, but Altab Ali's killing became a trumpet call that was hard to ignore. Hence, Altab Ali's name is an important one for the Bangladeshi diaspora Altab Park is the only park in London named after a Bengali. Formerly known as St Mary's Park, it is the site of the old 14th-century white church, St Mary Matfelon, from which the area of Whitechapel derives its name.

The Shaheed Minar "Martyr Monument" was erected in the southwest corner of Altab Ali Park to commemorate the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations of 1952 in back then, East Pakistan. We always used to come to Brick Lane after work especially Cafe Nirala, Sweet and Spices, Sweet Mart, Sonar Bangla Cafe, and Nazrul Restaurant and would wait there for friends or other Bengalis. Because we were unsafe from racist attackers, we had to gather many people before going to the underground station or bus stop.

Every Sunday Bangladeshi people and even white and BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) workers from all over London would come and gather at the Pakistani Cafe and the Bangladeshi Cafe on Brick Lane. When activists heard the skinheads heading past the Brick Lane traffic lights towards Whitechapel Road, they smashed Bengali shop windows and house windows with pebbles, beer glass bottles and sticks. Agitators quickly mobilised to protest and were sometimes beaten by skinheads. It was a regular Sunday routine for skinheads.

The Whitechapel district, along with the surrounding districts of Spital Fields and Stepney, was home to Bengali immigrants who lived together as much as possible (basically lived in cramped conditions) This was to save money to send back home and keep us safe from racist attackers in Tower Hamlets. Many of the dilapidated leather manufacturers and clothing shell-making factories in Spitalfields had small damp rooms with broken windows and frames and these holes were sealed with cloth and hardboard in Bengali-owned rented factories. Working in the winter season was especially chilly in the early morning. Every morning on the way to work we passed through a horrific situation where 'Paki' was heard, we were verbally abused, spat on, slapped, and kicked by racists.

It's hard to find a person living in the 80s without being insulted by racists in Tower Hamlet, even professionals like doctors and lawyers. We've all been insulted by racists at least once. Now the situation is changing we are living happily in the UK. Our children are doing well in school and college. Some work in a modern office building in what is called a white-collar job. Along with the fried chicken shops, the curry house business also became quite popular across the UK. Bengalis have made some contributions to Britain's Apparel Industry. I would like to thank the activists, the media, and the UK government for their hard work to eradicate racism in this area.

And then I moved to opposite the newly built flat 1/48 Princelet Street at the heartland of Brick Lane also later known as (Banglatown) which is famous for its restaurant and multicultural musical expression as well as culturally diverse vibrant surrounding areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baishakhi_Mela_2009_2.jpg

Learning the Tabla, as well as singing one-to-one and workshops under the guidance and love of many known and unknown students musicians teachers as well as internationally renowned maestros and also a devotional inspiration from Mother Nature (Kudarat) imminence veneration of its beauty and power.

It was the generosity of my maternal cousin brother Yousuf Ali bhaiya's act that made me a founder of the organisation and he had also paid my membership fees. I had my own flat on the 18th Dec 1989 by the local Housing Association which initially called Co-operative and was established by the Sylheti Bengali Shaharparian man named Fakruddin Ahmed. There is also a street called Fakruddin Street, London, E1 5BU, in honour of his name, and also there were many more local Sylheti people (Sylheti Zaati) who were involved in creating the housing association which was called Co-operative. Later their association name has been changed into Spitalfields Housing Association Ltd.

Flat 1/48 Princelet Street, where I lived and set-up a voluntary, community Jalali Music School also commonly known as Jalali from the end of (1989-2000) and the project was founded by myself and now some of the pupils are renowned to the music industry of Bangladesh. The teacher such as late Kondukar Emdadul Hoque Manna as well as my mentor, who was a ''Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra'' radio program producer /composer/singer/ teacher and was trained under the maestro Shyamal Mitra) and also was a freedom fighter of Bangladesh and the music teacher at Stewart Headlam school in East London.

Ustad Fida Hussain Khan accompaniment with the Ustad Alla Rakha Khan or Ustad Allarakha Qureshi of Punjab Gharana (29 April 1919-3 February 2000) popularly known as Alla Rakha for twenty-four years he plays the Lehra on the Harmonium (solo performance for the Tabla and dance) and Nagma (melody) in various Taal (rhythm). Maestro Deboo Chowdhury the Tabla master (trained under the legendary Tabla Maestro Pandit Radhakanta Nandi of Benares Gharana), and also I was included as a pupil of that Gharana (school) of Benares.
http://dillymeah.blogspot.co.uk/2012/0dillys-works.html
http://dillymeah.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/dillys-family-legacy.html

Musician & Composer

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Wednesday 25 January 2012

Dilly Meah

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