Eight years ago, a group of talented musicians who are inspired by Fakir Lalon’s songs and philosophy founded a band after the name of the Baul icon. Although they grew up in the modern milieu, their drive to relate with the spirituality of Lalon in the new era made them blend modern instrument with Baul songs.
Dhaka Tribune caught up with the members of band Lalon at their studio where they talked about upcoming projects and revealed some harsh truth of the music industry and their own stories.
Was it a challenge to fuse metal music with Lalon songs?
Fakir Lalon Shah used ektara (local instrument) only with his songs. Within few years, the instrument got evolved and the Bauls started using dotara. With the span of time, Lalon music was incorporated with guitar, musical pad and other modern instruments by some progressive bands like Bangla and others. So, we just took it to the next level.
How does your representation of Lalon’s music differ from others?
Like we said, representation of the legend’s music evolved with time. We tried to speak the language of this generation and to spread the message of Lalon successfully among the youth. That is why we used folk-rock-fusion and that is how we stand apart from others.
Tell us about band Lalon’s rise to prominence.
To spread Lalon’s philosophy and his spirituality, it was our attempt to express honour to the legend in the truest manner. It is the listeners who gave us the position. We make songs for the young generation and we feel privileged that they have accepted us as their favourite.
Tell us about your experience of performing at the UN Headquarters in New York.
It was a part of the campaign “My World 2015,” which aims to capture people’s voices, priorities and views, so that global leaders can be informed as they begin the process of defining the new development agenda for the world. Since, Fakir Lalon’s songs deal with social awareness/humanity and our representation is unique, we were nominated by the Minister of Cultural Affairs, Asaduzzaman Noor. Hence, we got the opportunity to perform at the “Setting the Stage 2015 and beyond” concert. The audience were awesome and our performance was cheered by everyone. Later, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent an email praising our performance to the Minister of Cultural Affairs.
Tell us about Lalon’s upcoming album?
We will be soon releasing our fourth studio album “Shada Kalo.” The concept behind the album is that, everything we see around us is black and white, we are the ones who add colours through our deeds and actions. The silence, sadness and the madness around us, everything has a colour of its own. It is our duty to paint the world in a beautiful way. We have a plan to make two video songs “Boka Shomaj” and “Footpath.” We have two more albums in the pipe line: “A tribute to Fakir Lalon Shah, Project by Lalon and Friends” and another is “Hippie Revolution.”
Most of the musicians of the country are frustrated about the dilapidated situation of the audio industry. What is your comment?
The truth is that the audio industry is dying. The telecommunication companies are not standing by any rules and are responsible for the demolition of this industry. They are not giving any royalty to the artistes, but they are making money out of their talent. By using songs as welcome tunes and jingles in commercials, the telecoms are the only ones benefiting from the entire process. They are taking these songs from the CP (content provider) instead of buying directly from the musicians and disseminating them in the cell phones through their network. The Telecom industry is getting 90percent profit from the sale of a song and five percent goes to the CP and whatever is left, the artiste receives it. This is sheer exploitation.
The big picture is that if an artiste is not being sponsored by a Telecom company, their situation is like that of a beggar. Now, musicians are knocking the doors of Telecoms to support them, which should not be the case. It is a pity, once talent was acknowledged by producers and listeners, the Telecom industry have seized their recognition and are doing a monopoly business by creating a chain which is destroying the audio industry.
What about the digital labels, are they supporting the artistes?
They are like a retail store who are sitting in a room and uploading songs in a server, hence people are purchasing but the digital labels are not promoting or marketing any musicians.