Fuad delivers a Bangladeshi musical buffet to the States

"What makes this particular tour unique is that we didn't cheap out on the sound and lights," laughed Fuad Almuqtadir over the phone, as he bragged about hiring Zakir Hossain and Nadeem Q Ahmed, for arguably the biggest concert tours for a Bangladeshi contingent, in the States. From Michigan to Washington DC to New York, the artistes have been representing Bangladesh with flying colours.

The ace music producer has been accompanied by Pantha Kanai, Tashfee, Muttaque Hasib, Pavel, Nick Gianni, Adhnan Sulaiman Nayeem and Tanvir Tomal for an extensive series of shows in the United States. They were also joined by artistes like Habib Wahid, Muza, Tahsan and Sanjoy at different junctures of their concert tour. Their first show was BNE (Bangla New Era), followed by the West Coast Bangla Music Fest, by OKBRO Records. In between, the team has also played many one-off gigs as well.

Bringing in so many artistes from Bangladesh, accommodating them from July 9 and running back-to-back shows was a gargantuan task. "As you well know, these things don't always go smoothly," said Fuad.  

He further said that after he moved to the US, this is his biggest musical tour. "The easy thing to do would have been to do it with 5-6 people, whom we are familiar with. However, we really did spare no expense on this one."

Taking further advantage of the unforeseen gathering of talent in the land of the free, the artistes have also worked on an original song together. "We shot the video with an iphone, in a desert in California. The song is called 'Doyal'," said Fuad.

As the tour closes in on an end, all the musicians, regardless of their years of experience, will benefit from it. "The new generation of musicians are simply outstanding," said Fuad. Would he like to incorporate some of these artists to the "Fuad Live in Dhaka" series? The answer, to the delight of any local music fan, was a resounding yes.