With flowers of blue…

Elita Karim

Ornob's latest album Hok Kolorob with its blue tinted album gives a hint about the collection which gives an impression of serenity and peace. A Bengal Music Company Ltd's exclusive, the album was launched at the Spectra Convention Centre on November 14.

Jacket cover of the album

Hitting off with his famous number She je boshe ache, a soundtrack number for the drama Off Beat, the singer and songwriter Ornob who also happens to be the founder member of the band Bangla, brought back folk music in Bangladesh and introduced the concept of fusing youth with tradition in terms of music, symbols and art. He then came up with his first solo album from Ektaar, Chaina Bhabish which showcased Ornob's intricate work and experimental ideas.

Ornob's latest album Hok Kolorob is a set of 12 numbers filled with yet another sample of his passion, ideas and thoughts. Not only has he provided fans and music lovers with a unique sense of sound, he has also played with words, rhythm and a variety of expressions.

According to him, the songs in this album were composed back in the mid-nineties when he was still at Shantiniketan, studying at the Art College. He mentions Taufik, a friend and also a classmate who seemed to have a substantial amount of influence on Ornob. Most of the songs in this album were written by him and Ornob when they used to hang out together. Taufik would write the lyrics and give them to Ornob before going to class. “By evening, the songs would be done,” says Ornob on his sleeve. “Many of these songs have been scattered and lost. The ones that stayed have been redone in this album.”

The launching ceremony was filled with artists, musicians, writers and many more eminent personalities of Dhaka. Ornob sang a few songs from his new album and to everyone's delight showed one of his new videos on the projector as well. Directed and edited by Ornob himself, everyone was awestruck at the simplicity of the video, which depicted nature, children and clouds all around. Shahana Bajpai, yet another upcoming singer and also Ornob's wife delighted the crowd further by rendering heart-warming compositions by Rabindranath Tagore.

Ornob rendering numbers from his latest album Hok Kolorob, at the launching ceremony held at the Spectra Convention Centre

Hok Kolorob has probably some of the most profound lyrics ever. His title song, written by Rajiv Ashraf talks about how people worry about every other issue in the world. It doesn't matter if the flowers were made blue instead of red, but then again, there is no real connection between the white clouds and the blue sky. So why worry about the flowers when we let the beautiful combination of the sky and clouds be?

Ornob's experimentations worked successfully in this album, especially in the case of the two versions of the song Tui ki janish na, written by Taufik. Version one happens to portray its true blue love elements, talking about how the beauty of the world adds up to almost nothing when one's beloved is not around. The second version of this song, though containing the same lyrics, has a slightly different sound along with voices of children in the background. This time, the song turns out to be a song sung by a parent to his or her children, as opposed to the ode sung to the lover in the fist version.

Ornob has once again maintained his image of simplicity and produced yet another authentic feel in his new album. With extra vocals backed by Tahmid, Shahana, Junaina, Wadid, Milita and Prescila, flute played by Zubair (Purbo Poshchim) and inspiring lyrics written by Rajiv Ashraf, Taufik Riyaz, Ornob, Shahana and Milita, the album is a symbol of the relationship between human expressions and art.

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