Geetikobi Songho, a platform for lyricists, was formed amid the coronavirus pandemic in order to champion the largely overlooked rights of the lyricists across the country.
After only one month of its formation, on August 23, the association submitted a letter urging to amend the copyright law to the Bangladesh Copyright Office.
Geetikobi Songho put forth ten proposals to the Copyright Office, arguing that the music scene would retain its sense of order and harmony once the amended laws reflect the organization’s ‘timely’ demands that particularly place stress on artists’ moral and financial rights.
In a similar vein, a platform for composers, Music Composers Society Bangladesh, has been recently formed by leading music composers of the country. The two associations held a virtual meeting on August 28.
The meeting began with a moment of silence while the attendants paid respect to the recently diseased musicians Azad Rahman, Alauddin Ali and Andrew Kishore.
Later, President of Music Composers Society Nakib khan said: “This is a historical moment. I don’t think lyricists and composers have ever united like this before. Geetikobi Songho has already made a lot of progress. We are starting our work too. Our goals are not different; at the end of the day what all us want is a healthy, thriving music industry.”
Geetikobi’s chief convener Shahid Mahmud Jangi said, “Our initiative mostly stands to benefit the future generations. Most of us are getting old. But we still want to fight for a change.”
“We are reacting to an urgent need to unite artists and voice their rights. We cannot do this alone. In the future, misunderstandings might rise. But we will have to overcome them and work towards the common goal, which is to put an end to the instability and disarray prevalent in today’s music industry,” he added.
