Chandrabindoo, Fossils showered with love in Dhaka
Popular Indian musical bands, Chandrabindoo and Fossils, who joined in a concert with Bangladeshi bands Warfaze and Avash in Dhaka, are overwhelmed with joy seeing the response from their Bangladeshi fans.
The concert, organised by the Dhaka University Chhatra League, took place at the central sports field of Dhaka University on Friday (December 8) to usher in the new academic year and extend a warm welcome to the incoming students.
Chandrabindoo, hailing from West Bengal, is celebrated for its spirited songs that carry a profound thematic taste expressed in simple words.
The immensely crowd-favourite band, whose popularity has endured for over three decades, mesmerised the audiences with their hits like, "Onno Kothao Chol", "E Bhabeo Phire Asha Jai", "Sweetheart", "Bhindeshi Tara", "Eita Tomar Gaan", "Bondhu Chol", "Bondhu Tomay Gaan E Gaan Shonabo" from 11 PM onwards on Friday at the concert.
However, the most memorable moment happened when over 50,000 audiences sang along with Anindya Chatterjee, and Upal Sengupta's "Bhindeshi Tara". The clip of the sing along has since been the talk of the town. Sharing video snippets from the concert, several other West Bengal musicians, including Shilajit Majumdar expressed their love and willingness to visit Bangladesh to sing for their fans.
Ecstatic with the overwhelming response from the audience, Upal Sengupta, said, "I have come here after 11 years and I always performed for a very limited audience in Bangladesh. So I had no idea that we have this big of a fanbase here."
"We didn't know that people here love our music this much. We were literally surprised when thousands of people sang along with us in our songs which we thought were limited to West Bengal. We will never forget the love and adorations we got from Dhaka," added the acclaimed singer.
Prominent West Bengal band, Fossils, took to the stage around 12 PM and performed till 2:30 PM. The headliner of the band, Rupam Islam, got injured on stage with a ligament injury, but enthralled the audience with his electrifying performance nonetheless.
Rupam began his performance by expressing his gratitude toward Bangladeshi musical legends, Ayub Bachchu, James, Maqsoodul Haque, enunciating the latter as his "Guru". Rupam, later called in the Bangladeshi music legend Maqsood on the stage and paid his respect to the musician.
While singing his famous song, "Nemesis" Rupam affirms his stance against war, denoting the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and said, "There is only one war that is fair and that is the war for love."
Chandrabindu has graced Bangladesh with its diverse range of songs on multiple occasions, performing at venues such as Dhaka Club, Fantasy Kingdom, and Foy's Lake in Chattogram. Their presence in Dhaka dates back almost a decade, with their last visit in 2014 on an invitation from Desh TV.
In contrast, Fossils, a rock band founded by singer Rupam Islam in 1998, brought a new wave of rock music to West Bengal. The band's popular tracks include "Neel Rang Chhilo Bhishan Priyo", "Tomar Chokher Kalo", "Kamlo Megheder Ojan", and "Aro Ekber", amongst others.
Rupam Islam, the lead singer of Fossils, has expressed gratitude to Bangladeshi band artistes for their significant contributions to the music scene. During a TV show in Bangladesh in 2011, he remarked, "My album became the first hit in Bangladesh. At that time, people in Kolkata were not aware of me, but the Bangladeshis accepted me with open arms. Listening to the feedback, Miles, James Bhai, Ayub Bachchu Bhai and Maqsood bhai's songs, I grew up and learned a lot from them."