A Chat With Badhon Sarkar Pooja

Let's start off with a common one, how did you come into the world of singing and music?

I was one of the top 7 performers in 2008's “Sherakontho” competition. I had to take a break after that owing to my SSC examinations but in 2010 I made my formal debut into the industry with a full album.

Recently you have performed with Tahsan in a song called “Onubhobey Tumi” and the music video is out now as well. How are the fans responding to it?

The song is being quite well received by the audience and I collaborated with Tahsan bhai as I am a big fan of his. I tried to the best of my abilities to deliver a good performance and thankfully the fans are appreciating it.

The fans know you for your duets with Arefin Rumi and Imran, but this time you worked with Tahsan. How was that different?

Tahsan bhai is not the usual artist. His performances have something different to it and that was the primary reason I was drawn to it, just like any of his fans. However, I felt equally comfortable working with all 3 of them.

Nowadays, artists tend to skip the traditional albums and publish music video albums with one or two songs. How do you see this?

I myself have released the song “Onubhobey Tumi” with Tahsan bhai as a single, as the payment from the audio companies nowadays is not sustainable enough to come up with albums with over 10 songs. That is why artists are moving to this format and as long as the fans are happy and artists are well remunerated, I do not see any downside.

Is it possible to survive in the long term with single albums and glitzy music videos?

Surviving only with expensive music videos is impossible because good songs to back up the videos are more important. If the content is good, then the videos add something more to it, but people remember the songs more than the videos in the end and that should undoubtedly be the highlight.

Many have complained about artists from your generation that the live performances are not up to par and only the recordings are good. What are your thoughts on this?

I cannot speak for others but personally I always try to give my best for live performances and learn from the mistakes in the shows. My mother was a singer, I was a part of “Notun Kuri” and have trained in classical music, so I like to believe I have the discipline to keep my performances on the same level at both ends.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I mostly watch TV and read books. The works of Humayun Ahmed and Zafor Iqbal are favourites of mine. Other than that I listen to all kinds of music from various parts of the world, in addition to my all time favourites of Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti.

How do you plan to spend the Puja that's coming up?

When I was young I used to be excited about getting new clothes and visiting various places. Nowadays I like to spend time with family and go see the idols in various places.

Interviewed by Zahid Akbar and Narrated by Mohymen