Feature



Smoke filled the empty stage as the audience impatiently awaited the beginning of the show. It was Violet Smoke's debut public performance, and the audience could wait no longer! By the time the smoke thinned out enough for everyone to make the shapes out on stage, the band members, Shihab and Shams, had taken their positions. With the stage set and the mellow atmosphere seducing the listeners, the show began.

As Shihab's gifted hands flowed through his acoustic guitar, plucking a tune that struck people at their hearts, the show began, as steady and placid as a serene ripple on the surface of a still pond. It was simply beautiful. The audience realized soon that the music was calm and soulful, and quite commendably, maintained pin drop silence throughout the song. The musicians' made a medley out of the opening track and the second one, and the sound of applause seemed to rock the floor at decibels higher than the sound system itself. The community at East West University had never quite experienced a musical programme of such genre before at the campus, and was enjoying it immensely.

The smoke had cleared out by now, and the performers had gleamed out of the hazy fog into the limelight as they carried on with the rest of the tracks. Applause turned to ovations, and ovations turned to awe with people clapping speechlessly as the band progressed through their magnificent combinations. Even before the first quarter of the session, the organizers were already satisfied with the success of the show. The crowd response was positive and cheerful. The audience experienced novelty as the current grunge and heavy metal inspired riffs seemed to have been surpassed by Violet Smoke with subtle sounds. Like a true deity diffusing enlightenment to worshippers, the band drew people into their own world of quite desperation. With compelling melodies out of simple chord progressions, the band created a unique blend of Bengali traditionalism and Western music genres.

Violet Smoke, formed in January 2006, is a band based out of Dhaka, Bangladesh, featuring Shams on vocals and Shihab on instrumentation. Shihab is a student of Economics in East West University and is responsible for the entire musical arrangement of every song. Shams, on the other hand, is a BBA student (DU) and is the band's vocal. The lyrics are their cooperative creations, and together, they seem to be the perfect duo who will soon enrichen the music industry of Bangladesh with their creations.

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