Is Ramadan 'Qasida' lost?

Getting up early in the morning to eat and then fasting until sundown has never been easy for the Muslim community during Ramadan. Most fast observers, or rozedars, are exhausted after iftar, or breaking the fast, and Tarawih, a mass prayer that lasts until close to midnight. They can only hope to be up in the wee hours of the morning to begin the cycle all over again. 

To wake the rozedars, there used to be a group of people—volunteers—who sang ‘sehri’ songs from 2 am while passing through the alleys of the older parts of Dhaka. Those songs were mostly sung in the ghazal fashion and in the Urdu language and were known as Qasida songs.

Old Dhaka had a rich culture of Qasida singers from time immemorial, but it is a tradition that is now almost lost. Historically, these singers were patronised by the Sardars of different ‘mohollas’ (neighbourhoods). Their songs were part and parcel of the lives of Old Dhakaites during the wee hours of Ramadan.