There is only one James, today is his birthday
James, also known as the modern 'guru' of Bangladeshi rock, has accomplished unimaginable feats since he started his career with the band Feelings. Today marks the National Award winning artiste's 57th birthday.
Noted lyricist Latiful Islam Shiblii has worked with the artiste on various songs including his popular song "Choyti Tare Lukiye Ache Choy Rokomer Koshto Amar"
In a candid conversation with The Daily Star, Latiful Islam Shibli reveals the story behind the making of the song.
"The name of this song is "Guitar Kadte Jane" and the song was released in the album "Dukhini Dukhkho Korona". The song basically talks about the unspoken pain hidden inside a guitarist. Through the six strings of a guitar, a guitarist tries to reveal his stories of sorrow, pain and sufferings,"
"I have tried to highlight the angst of a guitarist through the lyrics. Although the song only talks about 4 such difficulties, James bhaiy had to cut the two reasons as he didn't wanted the song to be too big," mentions the lyricist.
"The first song that I wrote for James bhaiy was "Jail Theke Bolchi" which was released in 1990. Initially I wrote this song for my friend Shahid Mahmud.Through Mahmud, I got to interact with James at his Eskaton house," adds the lyricist.
"James bhaiy was not well-known at that time. We used to talk a lot about music at that time. Later on he named the title of the album based on the title of the song. I have written about 30 songs for him. This song brought back lots of memories for me that I shared with James," added Latiful Islam Shibli.
Born in 1964 in Naogaon, Faruq Mahfuz Anam was brought up in Chittagong. He took up the moniker of 'James' as a stage name, winning the hearts of millions of music lovers not only in Bangladesh, but all over the world. His father Mojammel Haque was the chairman of the Chittagong Board of Education.
His family did not approve his wish to become a music artist, thus he left home and started living in Aziz Boarding in Pahartali, Chittagong.
He formed his band 'Feelings' in 1980 and became the band's lead guitarist and vocalist. His first album, Station Road, was released in 1987. He became famous with his super hit album "Onnona" in 1988. After that he gave simultaneous hit albums one after another starting with "Jail Theke Bolchi" in 1990, 'Nagar Baul' in 1996, "Lace Fita Lace" in 1998 and last but not the least his album "Collection of feelings" was realeased in 1999 from his band "Feelings."
James received Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer twice for the films 'Desha: The Leader' (2014) and 'Swatta' (2017). As a solo artist, he has released a total of 8 albums and many mixed album with renowned artists of Bangladesh.
'Taray Taray Rotiye Debo' (penned by legendary poet Shamsur Rahman), 'Maa', 'Bangladesh', 'Pagla Hawaa', 'Dushtu Chheler Dol', 'Guru Ghor Banaila Ki Diya', 'Mirabai' etc. are some of James's iconic Bengali rock numbers that cemented his legacy as 'Guru' to his fans in all over the world.
He has also established his legacy as a solo artist and a successful playback singer in both Dhallywood and Bollywood. In 2006, he debuted in Bollywood as a playback singer in Anurag Basu's film 'Gangstar', and his journey in Bollywood was continued with three other films - 'Woh Lamhe' (2006), 'Life... in a Metro' (2007) and 'Warning' (2013).