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Music Review

The Bohemian Way

Elita Karim

It started out like any other band in Dhaka city growing up with the popular local bands, influenced by sounds from bands like Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Skid Row, Aerosmith, Guns and Roses, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osborne, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, A Perfect Circle, Live, Counting Crows, Soul Asylum, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Porcupine Tree and more, jamming in practice pads for days and nights together, trying a hand at compositions and writing and then finally coming out with an album. With meaningful lyrics and a balance between alternative rock and melody, Bohemian is another band to have come out with a 'feel-good' and young sound.

With an urge to contribute to the flourishing music scene in the country, the band has tried to bring about something “enjoyable, unique and new to the already vivid Bangladeshi music industry,” according to Shams Quader, the vocalist and one of the guitarists of the band. “Of course it is up to the listeners to judge us and criticise our music,” he says. “But we are here to stay. We are ready to go through all the struggles, hardships and continue experimenting with our compositions, shows and new elements.”

With Shams Quader (vocals and guitars), Mahbub Hasnat Farhan (guitars), Khaled Mosharraf Chowdhury (bass) and Rafatul Bari Labib (drums), Bohemian's debut album Babodhan was released on the July 28, 2008 from Fahim Music. The launching ceremony was held at the Press Club, Dhaka. The chief guest was the renowned journalist and editor of the Monthly Sargam Magazine, Kazi Raunak Hossain. Others present at the conference were the owner of Fahim Music, Munir Hossain, Jatiya Party Presidium member, G.M. Quader, Ex- Awami League MP Col. Faruq Khan and cultural personality, Hena Kabir.

According to Quader, Bohemian's music can be loosely tagged as Alternative Rock, although the main focus has always been on melody and meaningful lyrics. “Our lyrics are based on themes and experiences we have had, both at home and abroad,' explains Quader. For instance, one of the tracks titled 'Dejavu' is a song, which describes one's feeling when one goes through dejavu. While the title track 'Babodhan' talks about long distance relationships, 'Tribute to Roland' is based on Roland Deschain, the main character from Stephen King's famous novel series The Dark Tower.

Quader admits that their compositions in Bohemian's debut album are probably not groundbreaking. However, the band initially wanted to get their music noticed and bag a place amongst the many talented young bands teeming the scene today. “We have not really established a particular genre for ourselves through this album,” says Quader. “We intend to experiment more before settling down under a category of musical genres.”

Produced and recorded by the well-known music director Ibrar Tipu, the compositions in the album were done by Shams Quader himself, while Quader along with Mahbib Lemon wrote the lyrics. “Lemon and I wrote the lyrics in 2007 when we were studying in London,” says Quader. “We spent months and months, talking about the concepts, the choice of words to use, the placement of the words and much more. For this we had to literally listen to hundreds of Bangla songs. We also went through a good amount of research while composing the tunes of all the compositions.”

The members of Bohemian believe in going slow, observing, learning and experimenting. However, they also feel that without the support shown by their families, friends and listeners, they will not be able to achieve their goals and hence live their dream of making a difference in the current music scene.