‘A Sip of Love’: Elita & Friends serenades Kona Café on Valentine’s Day

The calm atmosphere at Kona Café transformed on Sunday. People of all ages came together to celebrate the day of love, and the first day of Falgun. With warm beverages in hand, surrounded by their loved ones, the crowd gathered together to cheer on

Elita Karim & Friends as they took the stage; situated inside the premises of Lakeshore Hotel.

Elita & Friends, led by renowned vocalist Elita Karim, featured Pritom Arefin, Nafeez Al Amin and Apurba Jahangir.

The band started their set, which included originals like "Kothay", "Hridoyer Jhore," "Ure Jete Chai" and wonderful renditions of popular songs – among which were Maroon 5's "She Will

Be Loved", a fan favorite. They also paid tribute to the late Ayub Bachchu with "Hashte Dekho Gaite Dekho", a masterpiece by LRB.

After the show, fans were treated to the newly released animated music video for Elita Karim's latest single, "Eyto Bhalo". The song, composed and tuned by Elita herself, was directed by Shaker Raza. Artist duo, Manik Ratan, did the animation for the captivating love song.

The singer plans to release more original music on her YouTube channel this year.

Kona Cafe, best known for their Hawaiian drinks and poke bowls, is a passion project by Kazi Mahzuza Maysun and Raad Saif Rahman along with Sameera Wadood who helped as a consultant to curate the menu and bring ideas to life. Kona is set to host more shows to draw audiences in and promote good music in a city lacking regular musical reprieve.

"For the next few weeks, there will be a musical evening every Friday," says Mahzuza, a graduate of Southern California Institute of Architecture. Maysun also added that there are multiple other artists lined up to play at Kona Cafe in the following weeks.

The musical evenings, which is open to all, will certainly be something to look forward to for the capital's music lovers.