A Curse or a Blessing 1

Western Music in Bangladesh: A Curse Or A Blessing? Ashfaque Ahmed ID 2008-3-40-017 English-102 Course Instructor: Masrufa Ayesha Nusrat April 26, 2009

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Abstract

Bangladesh is a rich musical playground. People of this country have variety of musical taste, but for the last twenty years western music has made a radical change in the taste of the music lovers of Bangladesh. All though it was highly criticized at the beginning but soon most of the musicians appreciated it. Our radio and television media played a vital role for the exposure of western music. Many bands have come across to create Bengali songs with a touch of western flavour. Although there have been many criticism, new bands were formed and with the help and suggestions of senior musicians they have managed to mix up the western music with traditional Bengali songs and created a new genre which is known as fusion. So that day is not far away when Bangladeshi songs will make its own place in world music.

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Western Music in Bangladesh: A curse or a blessing?

Introduction:
Farzana Rashid, a 25-year-old school teacher never leaves home without her cell phone. And it's not just because she wants to stay in touch with everyone while she's away. Her Nokia 7610 is loaded with MP3 songs and when she gets bored of them she just switches on her favorite radio station to listen to the new releases of her favorite artistes. This is the scenario of how Bangladeshi people are attracted to music. Bangladesh has a very rich musical heritage since music has always played an important role in the lives of the people. Over the times new influences where introduced to our music culture and musical styles have changed. Musical development was better than many other spheres of life because such development was well appreciated by the music gods. After liberation war, western music made an immense change in our music taste. Though there were lots of criticisms regarding the practice of western music in Bangladesh, it has many positive impacts on our music arena. We have added a new gene in our culture which is known as Fusion1. Besides we have improved the overall sound quality of our songs throuth the use of western instruments and equipments. Many re known artists and performers are now habituated with western influence and it also added a new horizon to our Bengali Music Culture.

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Early Days:
Soon after our War of Liberation in 1971, Azam Khan, with Uchcharon and the Akhand Brothers (Lucky and Happy) created hype in the music industry with their straightdown-the-line magnetic songs during the early and late 70s. Happy Akhands Abar elo je shondha is a milestone and probably one of the dearest songs ever produced. The steam of western music has entered in our culture through various paths. The broadest was band music. Besides, there were other musical arenas where western music has been playing vital role since the early 80s. The film industry of our country is one of them. When it was necessary we used keyboards, saxophon and guitar. There is no shame using western instruments beside our traditional ones like dhol, tabla, harmonium, bashi etc (Personal interview with Alam Khan, Music Director) according to him, if we want to pace up with the advanced world, want to develop our sound quality there is no other alternative.

Exposure of Western Music: a. Through Media (Radio and Television):

Media plays a vital role in developing particular sector of a country. In Bangladesh, previously Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh television were the only two audio visual media; but as years passed now in 2009 we have more than ten private television channels and four private radio stations. During the early 90s and before people were mostly attracted to radio stations for listening songs. As there was only one national radio

A Curse or a Blessing 5 channels the option was limited. With the raising TV channels and radio stations the hunger for music grew more. Until January 2009 there are more than nine private TV channels and four radio stations broadcasting. Everyone needs change. Music lovers of Bangladesh always appreciated quality music. That is why the western influence in our culture has changed the taste of our musical appetite. Now a day there are thousands of fans for modern songs where western instruments are often used.

b. Through Personal Influence( Band Music):

The first set of bands to follow after 71 were Souls, Miles, Feedback, Feelings (now known as NagarBaul) and then Waves. Souls was perking up to be a mainstreamer and soon got themselves a record deal. Their first album in 1982 was an immediate success. Ayub Bachchu ( who later created LRB ) and solo performers like Tapan Choudhury and Kumar Biswajit became popular at that moment. Many new bands were formed as souls split up. All these artists and bands where highly influenced by western music culture. Although they kept the lyrics and the tune untouched, they work on the music arrangement and instrumental arrangements. Young people Bangladesh especially the teenagers were very much attracted to band music at that time. They found this type of music more passionate and rocking. The variation within the lyric and tune of band music made its stage stronger among the traditional Bengali music society. Renaissance was another famous band of that period. Naquib Khan, keyboardist, composer and vocalist of that band says, Our audience is more mature. We do not really target teenagers although a lot of

A Curse or a Blessing 6 them enjoy our music because it is band based. On a whole, however, our music reaches out to an older population. We dont really create songs according to what our audience likes or dislikes. We just play. If it sounds good we just go with it. (Jazzing Up A Storm, Star Magazine, The Daily Star, April 8, 2005.)

The era of Metal Music:

As the taste becomes more diverse it was at the rim of mid 80s, late 80s and early 90s, when heavy metal and hard rock music become up-to-the-minute element. Sumon of Aurthohin best describes the era of metal music. According to him, Miles was the first band who presented hard rock music. Then there was Rock Starta who covered iron maiden for the first time followed by another big gun Warfaze. All of these bands were highly influenced by western bands and their music styles. This is how western rock music entered Bangladesh. The early 90s proved to be a blast for the heavy metal scene. Various bands emerged and mixed audio companies started to produce mixed albums. Western music practice in our society has been criticized since the early 90s. Many senior musicians think that this culture will overshadow Bengali Music and in some cases it does. There is another criticism for the impact of Hindi music in Bengali Music scene. Habib, the latest craze among the young generation, a well-established singer and music director says, If you think about the people in village they will probably do not understand other languages that well. And at the end of the day, people always want to listen

A Curse or a Blessing 7 to music that is in their own language, because they can relate to it more than they can relate to music in other languages. (Jazzing Up A Storm, Star Magazine, The Daily Star, April 8, 2005.)

What Critics says:

The critics complain about the remixes of songs. As I have had a couple of interview with the famous Alam Khan I found out most of the senior musicians of Bangladesh are very much depressed about the present condition of our music industry. There have been a flourish of underground bands and so called solo artists; but do they really know how to sing a song? Most of the bands are pronouncing Bengali words like English and they are using so cheap lyric which have no meaning at all. Is this a proper musical arena? The music of Bangladesh has its roots in the soil. We are cutting the roots, if it continues like this, we will loose our pride, our Bengali Music Culture. (Personal Interviw) said Bari Siddique, singer, music director and perhaps the best flutist I have ever seen.

Fusion:
Generally speaking, Bangladesh music can be categorized into a number of genres. The main genres are: classical music, rabindra sangeet, nazrul geeti, folk songs, adhunik gaan and modern music with western influences. Each of these categories is very broad and has distinguishable characteristics. The adhunik gaan and the modern music are the two

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branches of Bangladeshi that have direct western influences. Now a day a new genre has emerged and it is called Fusion. Anusheh, the lead vocal of Bangla, says Fusion is nothing but a mixture of western instruments and bengali traditional tunes. (Breaking The Musical Status Quo, Star Magazine, The Daily Star, February 16, 2007) When a bengali folk song is played with electric guitar, keyboard and drums rather than playing with traditional Bengali instruments like tabla, harmonium it is called fusion. One of the pioneers of the folk music fusion was Maqsoodul Haque, who, with his band Feedback in released the album Bauliana in 1996 which incorporates Baul music with keyboard and drums. Fusion is the most positive outcome of western influences in Bangladesh. According to Renaissance the true meaning of fusion is incorporating instruments such as saxophones3 and trumpets4 to add jazzy2 feel while still managing to stay true to the roots of folk Bengali music. Western music culture, especially the use of western instruments with Bengali songs have become more and more popular this days. Although there were criticisms at the beginning people of Bangladesh are now adjusted to this sort of music. In fact some think that western music is the only path to reach the highest level of music; I dont know if it is true or false but that would be another long debate. On a whole it is prominent that western music has shared its branches time to time in Bangladesh and many youngsters are listening English and hindi songs. Of course Bengali songs and Bangladeshi Music should be our top priority but it is also true that there is no way we can avoid western music and western instruments. Buno says,

A Curse or a Blessing 9 When we do not have a dotara, I have to make do with a guitar, (Jazzing Up A Storm, Star Magazine, The Daily Star, April 8, 2005.)

Globalizing Bengali Music:

Many artists of our country have performed in foreign countries like Canada, Australia, USA, and many other in Europe. The knowledge of western music makes it easier for them to communicate with the people of those countries. Bangladeshi solo performers and bands are highly appreciated outside. All these are our achievements over the years of hard work and we must thank the western community and their music for this.

Conclusion:
Western music in Bangladesh has never had a flashy start. It faced many obstacles and painful unavailability of musical instruments and proper guidance. There were drug abuses too mostly for the band artists. If we get the proper guidance and support from all over the country Bangladeshi music would have been the forefront of glory throughout the world. This did not happen because of the lack of sponsors and promotions. Now every coin has its two sides. Though the practice of western music has been immensely criticized we should look forward to the positive outcomes from it. As the story ends here for the older generations of musicians, it will continue to improve with new faces. These true musical patriots wish to create waves and leave a rich legacy for those who will take this to the ultimate goal which is to take Bangladeshi music to the international level. I hope the day is not far away when a Bangladeshi artist will dominate the Bill Board Top chart5.

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Footnote
1. Fusion: Mixture of western influences and Bengali traditional tunes 2. Jazzy: A particular type of music called Jazz like rock, blues etc. When a music sounds like jazz music, sometime it is called jazzy. 3. Saxophone: A western musical instruments 4. Trumpet: A western musical instrument. 5. Bill Board Top chart: A musical top chart of USA which determines which is the best song at the moment according to listeners choice. It is regarded as one of the best song lists of the world.

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References
1. Narmeen, Srabonti and Karim Elita. Jazzing Up A Storm, Star Magazine. The Daily Star, April 8, 2005. Volume 4. Issue 2. Ahmed, Shams. Breaking The Musical Status Quo. Star Magazine, The Daily Star. February 16, 2007. Volume 6. Issue 6. 2007. 3. Faizul, A Tanim. The Turbulent Evolution of Bangla Rock. Star Magazine, The Daily Star. Volume 1, Issue 152 4. Khan, Alam. Personal Interview. March 28, 2009. 5. Siddique, Bari, Personal Interview. April 14, 2009. 6. http://www.wikipedia.org