Labik Kamal Gaurob is a familiar name in the music circuit of our country. The talented artiste is pursuing his career simultaneously as the leader of the band Ajob, creative director of Bengal Music and also as a Baul fusion singer. His band Ajob’s self-titled debut album was released in 2006 from Ektaar Music. His first solo-baul album “Par Koro” was released in 2009 from Bengal Music and attained huge appreciation from the audience and the musician circles. Dhaka Tribune has caught up with the multitalented artiste recently.
As “Gaurob” means pride, what makes you proud? Pride does not take anyone anywhere. I am grateful that almighty has given me the ear and abilities of becoming a musician and I cherish it. But as we are human, unintentional glimpses of pride are exhibited sometimes. I admire down to earth people.
What made you choose Baul fusion? I grew up listening to all kinds of traditional music. At the same time I had friends in school and community through whom I came to hear pop, alternative, blues, rock etc. So I grew up listening to different genres. But, Baul music used to excite me the most. When I hear baul song, I tend to imagine a bass line/ guitar progression around it. So it was a natural progress in blending the two elements. I found people who had similar views, and we started making music.
To you, what are the most attractive features in fusing folk with western music? Our Baul or eastern music is very rich in lyrics and melody. One of the most important elements in western music is its richness in harmony. So if the two can get married in one place, it gets me more exciting for me.
What are the upcoming projects of Ajob band and you as solo artiste? I have three projects that I have been working on for the last couple of years. Ajob’s second album “Hajar Bhooter Rajar Doya” featuring some exciting national and international artistes, is ready for release. We are working on sponsorship. I, as a producer, am nearly done with Nobonita Chowdhury’s 2nd album which is a collection of different kinds of Baul songs.I also have also recorded my solo album in London which needs some work, but is almost ready. This album has nothing to do with baul music, and it has a completely different sound than Ajob or anything I had previously done.
Where do you want to see yourself after 10 years? Well, I don’t know whether in 10 years or not, I really want to enter the International world music scene with Baul music. The Africans, Cubans, Latinos are everywhere in world music festivals and international releases. We have no reason to fall behind.
As the creative director of Bengal Music, how do you evaluate today’s music industry? It is a difficult time we are passing through. Companies are shutting down, failing to fight the piracy. We have to find alternative avenues to market music. One of them is the digital platform and we have recently signed with Mushroom Entertainment to release all our content internationally on established web based shops and sites like itunes, spotify, cdbaby etc. The telecoms need to pay more to the musicians. All radios need to start paying royalties. And above all these, I urge to the government to recognize the value of intellectual property and take actions to prevent piracy and save our music industry.