Artcell: 10 years of Insanity

Photo Courtesy: ConcitoPR

Friday the 23rd celebrated mega-band Artcell's 10-year anniversary in Dhaka Sheraton's Winter Garden. Along with Artcell performing there was Powersurge, Mechanix and Reborn with special guest appearances from Cryptic Fate, Rockstrata, X-Factor, Aurthohin, Warfaze, Miles and Feedback.

Artcell began the show with a few of their own tracks starting with 'Shaheed Sharani' a tribute to the martyrs, 'Onno Shomoy' and 'Dukho Bilash'. The audience was cheering and singing them selves hoarse making it difficult to hear anything that anyone was saying. It was worth the wait because the music was unbelievable! During 'Dukho Bilash', Artcell frontman, Lincoln, didn't even have to sing 'cos the audience was doing it for him. It was one of the best moments of the show.

After the first three songs by Artcell, the first video message of the night was shown on the screen (again, couldn't hear ANYTHING because of the cheering) and members of Cryptic Fate joined them on stage. They started with a Cryptic Fate track 'Cholo Bangladesh' and then did a rendition of 'Bhul Jonmo' and the frontman, Shakib, lead the crowd in a “Happy Birthday” song to Artcell.

Next up with the band were members of Rockstrata followed by Jewel from X-Factor who performed a song called 'Rupok' dedicated to the memory of the late Artcell lyricist, Torikul Islam Rupok. Shumon 'Bassbaba', from Aurthohin, joined the band next and did a couple of songs ending with Poth Chola, an Artcell classic.

Mechanix replaced them on stage and performed 'Dhrubo Shor'. They also paid a VERY lenghty tribute to Bangladesh's rock music scene with a medley of songs from Azam Khan, Miles, Bacchu, James, Warfaze, Artcell, Powersurge, Aurthohin and one of their own.

Artcell came back on stage with Romel on keyboards and they did Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' (again in memory of Rupok), Metallica's 'The Unforgiven' and 'Tomake'. Reborn followed, after setting up for what seemed like a bajillion years, with an Artcell tribute of 'Odekha Shorgo' and a Warfaze tribute of 'Ekti Chele'.

Powersurge got up next and stole the show with their incredible performances of Artcell's 'Rahur Grash', Jame's 'Sultana Bibiani' and their own 'Mitther Aggroshon'. This was the last Dhaka show for Powersurge guitarist Samir Hafiz, one of the best in the business. The band dedicated their performance to Artcell as well and Samir and thanked him for the wonderful year and the journey they shared together. Samir also had a very emotional moment up on stage while thanking his devoted fans. 'Bangladesh is losing one of its best guitarists.' says a sad Powersurge fan. Samir, we all love you and will miss you very very much. Come home soon!

The legendary Warfaze came next and following them was Feedback who performed one of their own songs 'Shunina Purono Diner Oi Gaan' and the Artcell version of Nazrul Sangeet 'Kandari Hushiyar'. Miles, singing 'Sriti Sharok' and 'Shopnobhongo', was the last band to join Artcell on stage.

Artcell ended the show with 'Aniket Prantor' and thanked the fans for a great 10 years.

A video of 'Pathor Bagan' an Artcell track was screened along with mini video messages to and from the bands performing with them throughout the concert.

Overall, performance-wise, the show was immensely successful with every band giving us all an unforgettable show. However, the same could not be said for the organizing: there seemed to be a lot of technical difficulties (during Mechanix's tribute, the sound kept failing) and then there was the whole Bengali tradition style wait at the start. The concert was supposed to start at 3:30 but ended up hitting it off at 5:52. During this whole wait, the audience actually had to stand waiting for Artcell to finally get on stage.

The '10 years of Artcell Insanity' show credits go to ConcitoPR, Spotlight Events Management and Game Theory, with Media Partner Radio Foorti and, of course, the band.

Congratulations Artcell on ten years of progressive rocking out. May you continue to record and perform your extensive songs for another 10 more successful years!!

By Musarrat Rahman

It's all about dreams

"It's all about steam, it's all about dreams, it's all about making the best out of everything.”

This was how the administration of “Chhobir Haat” and “Youth Society of Art” depicted their latest venture to reveal the world of visual art to the people. From last 16th of October to 22nd the “3rd Friendship Art Exhibition-2009” took place in the “National Art Gallery”. Using combinations of fine arts, photography and sculpting in this exhibition the artists were successful in developing a meaningful collaboration of different aspects of visual arts in one concrete cubicle. The inauguration was held on October 16, 2009 at the National Art Gallery of Shilpakala Academy. State minister for Home, Advocate Shamsul Haque Tuku attended as chief guest and Professor Muhammad Jafar Iqbal and Artist Jamal Ahmed were the special guests.

But first let me introduce you to “Chhobir Haat”. It is an online community for the artwork of Bangladeshi artists. The main objective of this group is to promote Bangladeshi art through the web, exhibitions and thus supporting the amateur and young artists of this country. But the versatility of this group also allows artists from other regions of the world to share their works.

Starting their journey about one and a half years back the motto of this group is “Live with Art” and believing in the power of this medium within a very short time Chhobir Haat has already arranged two exhibitions. This was the third time when total of 234 artists and photographers from Bangladesh, USA, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan and India have participated in this event.

This was not the first time when all the elements of visual arts were presented together but the fact that made this exhibition unique are the participants. Being an online community Chhobir Haat brought together the young and adventurous group of artists in this exhibition and gave them an opportunity to show their work to the enthusiasts of art. Within the grand walls of National Art Gallery this exhibition was telling the story of colours and shades and lights. A whole corner was dedicated to 34 children's paintings, which were a real surprise and also a good initiative to exhibit the talents of the children along with professional and non-professional artists.

Though photography and fine arts were in different sections the fine arts and paintings outshine the photographic collection of the exhibition, there were some amazing photographs and without a doubt they deserve admiration but in front of the grand canvas of watercolour and oil painting they were overshadowed. Riazul Alom, a photographer, expressed his thought about this exhibition, “This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone who loves paintings and photographs to admire some good works. Entering the exhibition I feel bombarded with such a good collection of paintings and artworks. I was amazed and a little disappointed because in front of these 7×7 feet paintings my small-framed photographs don't have a chance. But I enjoyed them too.”

A village mosque where devotees are in a sajda position, a lone flickering wax candle, photograph of a drawing of the revolutionary Che in red, a monk with solitude in divine grace, a metal hand gripping a flying bird, a abstract portrait of a girl flying in the realm of her dreams, all these were the little bits of this exhibition with the WOW factors. Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. And this reflection, which the artist creates, enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. This was a great endeavour of “Chhobir Haat Art Society” and “Youth Society of Art” along with Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy where we have found the colours of our country and the shades of new and emerging artists.

By Zabir Hasan

Meet the local spooks

Halloween can roughly translate into 'Bhooter Mela' in Bangla. And a splendid one we have here too, from the legendary 'Thakurmar Jhuli' to the local spook-tales of rural Bangladesh. Let's meet some of these celebrated characters who take up most of the space in our Bangla fairy-tales:

Mamdo Bhoot:
He is lean, he is mean and he just LOVES booing the hell out of you! Mamdo is probably the most popular of all the bhoots in Bangladesh. He has a disturbing hobby of snapping people's necks whenever he pleases and a curious infatuation towards Ilish maachh. That's why villagers often believe if you encounter Mamdo you must treat him to the royal fish…that is, if your neck is that dear to you.

Tetul Gaachher Petni:
The infamous Queen of the Creeps. She is rumoured to have a romantic relationship with Mamdo and the two are often portrayed as a happy couple in most fairy-tales. She shares Mamdo's neck-snapping hobby and has a high-pitched nasal voice that is very much appealing to Mamdo but of course, spine-chilling to us.

Sheora Gaachher Sakhchunni:
Enter the vital element for a perfect love triangle- Madamoiselle Shakhchunni. She is a long-limbed, frightening-looking woman (erm, dead woman?) who has a crush on Mamdo and uses her flirtatious habits to wreak havoc on Mamdo's happy love-life with Petni.

Doitto:
The Bengal Giants. They come in different colours too- blue, green, red- and like sporting a trademark 'muhahaha' laugh (read 'Alif Laila'). They are huge and are fond of making sumptuous meals out of human beings and their domestic herd.

There are many more like Mechho Bhoot, Gechho Bhoot, Golakata Bhoot, Pret, Danob etc. Let's wish all of the Deshi creeps a very Happy Halloween.

By Kokoro-Chan