In its upcoming album, popular pop/rock band Obscure will be seen refashioning an old patriotic song as well as bringing three new ones, in a clear shift in focus to elicit patriotic feelings among its younger listeners.
So the highlight of the band ‘s new studio album, “Obscure o Bangladesh,” set to hit stores on September 26 after a launch event, is its patriotism-themed numbers, although there will be other numbers designed to appeal to popular tastes.
Said Hasan Tipu, frontman and vocal of Obscure, is excited about the band’s latest venture. “The title of our new album is an indication that there will be some patriotic songs. We’re really excited about it,” he told Dhaka Tribune, saying the band will try more songs in this vein in future as well as refashion some old “people’s songs.”
Though the band incorporated a patriotism-themed track in its album “Opekkhai Theko,” Tipu said this time they took the matter further, with four tracks in total.
There are a total of ten tracks in the new album including the rock version of “Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano,” originally written by Abdul Gaffar Choudhury and tuned by Altaf Mahmud, which pays tribute to the spirit of the Language Movement.
“The present generation knows only the first six lines of the track. We tried to introduce it in a whole new way,” Tipu said.
There is also a number on the struggles of the Palestinian people, called “Philistine.” Another track pays tribune to freedom fighter Shaheed Azad of Crack Platoon who sacrificed his life in 1971. Other tracks include “Ish,” “Motijheel,” “Pushpadhuli,” “Badhu,” “Kokhono” and “Abol Tabol.”
The songs were written by Manirul Islam, Mostafa Mahmud, Abu Said, Tanzil Rahman and Kolkata-based lyricist Amit Goswami. The band’s previous album was “Phera,” released in 2013, which it did after a hiatus of four years. The current lineup of the band is Tipu on vocals, Rajib and Shantanu on guitars and vocals, Binod on keys, Raaju on bass, Rabbi on drums and vocals.
The album will be available on international outlets including iTunes, Amazonmp3, GooglePlay, Rhapsody, Emusic and other platforms from September 26. Furthermore, the songs will be monetized on free streaming sites including Spotify, YouTube and Mushroom Entertainment’s own platform ME Radio, where the users can listen to the songs for free. Obscure, formed in 1985, has so far released eight albums and produced numerous hit tracks including “Majhrate Chad,” “Nijhum Rater Adhare” and “Chhaira Gelam Matir Prithibi.”