Coke Studio Bangla has a different dimension due to Bangladeshi musical roots and diversity of listeners' needs, Abeer Rajbeen has said.
Rajbeen, Coke Studio Bangla's marketing lead, also said the DNA of Coke Studio Bangla is the same as the global ones, but it pays homage to the richness of Bangladeshi music.
She was speaking as a panellist at a session titled “Coke Studio Bangla: The Story” held at the AKSB Auditorium of Bangla Academy on Saturday, the third day of Dhaka Lit Fest 2023, Bangladesh's biggest event on world literature and culture.
Moderated by Warda Ashraf, the session also had Faizan Rashid Ahmad (Buno) and Gousul Alam Shaon as panellists.
“We first thought about what it would take to make a song unique. We always kept it in our mind that our main audience is the young generation,” said Abeer Rajbeen.
At one stage, the moderator of the session asked Gousul Alam Shaon, the producer of “Coke Studio Bangla”—how they understood what the young generation would like, what challenges they had to face throughout the arrangement and on what basis they chose the songs.
In response, Shaon said they did not have the luxury to make excuses about not having the technologies as the young generation of Bangladesh listens to global music.
“We wanted to get closer to the music taste of today's listeners,” he said.
He said: “Firstly we had to make sure that we stayed connected to the roots and on that basis, the entire arrangement was done. We also wanted to stay connected with our contemporaries.”
“We have studied that lyrics are very important to sustain a song in our country, so we prioritized the lyrics,” he said.
“We selected the song first, the song took us to the artists. Then, we brought necessary artists from the country and from abroad,” he added.
Dhaka Lit Fest 2023, Bangladesh's biggest event on world literature and culture, began on Thursday with around 500 writers, poets, performers, intellectuals, journalists and internationally acclaimed prize-winning speakers taking part in over 170 sessions over four days.
This is the 10th edition of the fest. The fest is taking place after a three-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.