Location: German Club, Gulshan 2, Dhaka
Time: 20:45 onwards
State of mind: Content

German band Lychee Lassi started playing in 1998 and made a name for themselves with their debut EP Speed, which came out in 2000 and was named “Record of the Month” by TIP Magazine. They have gone on to play gigs all over Europe at clubs, open-airs, and festivals, and tonight they played in front of a live audience in Bangladesh for the first time. I really had a good time at this electronica-jazz fusion concert, and so did my friend Rafiq who accompanied me.

Due to stupid government regulation the bar at the club was closed, so we opted for Pepsi and Fanta. It’s getting relatively harder to get alcoholic beverages in Bangladesh… the scenario is pretty ugly.

Anyways, here’s the line-up of Lychee Lassi: Dirk Berger on guitar, Beat Halberschmidt on bass, Roland “Roy” Knauf on drums, and DJ Illvibe on turntables. They are flying to India tomorrow to perform at Egmore, Chennai, so good luck to them!

I knew Dan was a well known rock star, but what I didn’t knew is that he’s really really famous in Norway! His younger brother Kim is in the music industry too, and I hope he becomes famous too! I’m glad to have cousins like them!

Dan on the left, with his band Backstreet Girls:

He plays bass guitar on two more bands, Crime Club and Ratcats.

“Worldwide trance community tuned in and locked into frequency…
Stand by for the latest in trance and progressive,
broadcasting across the planet to over thirty countries…
This is a state of trance with Armin van Buuren.”

I just fell in love with Armin van Buuren after listening to episode # 320 of his radio show A State of Trance. He plays exactly the type of trance I listen to, and I loved his extraordinary remixes. This Dutch DJ is no less talented than Tiesto or Paul Van Dyke… no wonder his world ranking is # 3 according to The DJ List!

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again.

The only girl I care about has gone away
Lookin’ for a brand new start
But little does she know that when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart.

Rain please tell me now does that seem fair
For her to steal my heart away when she don’t care
I can’t love another when my heart’s somewhere far away.
(more…)

তুমি আর তো কারো নও, শুধু আমার
যত দূরে সরে যাও রবে আমার
স্তব্ধ সময়টাকে ধরে রেখে
স্মৃতির পাতায় শুধু তুমি আমার

কেন আজ এত একা আমি?
আলো হয়ে দূরে তুমি
আলো আলো আমি কখনও খুজে পাবে না
চাঁদের আলো তুমি কখনও আমার হবে না

রোমন্থন করি ফেলে আসা দৃশ্যপট স্বপ্নে আঁকা
লুকিয়ে তুমি কোন সুদূরে
হয়ত ভবিষ্যতের আড়ালে
তবে আজ এত একা কেন?
আলো হয়ে দূরে তুমি
ঘাসের চাদরে শুয়ে একা
আকাশের পানে চেয়ে জেগে থাকা…

This is the first track of Tahsan’s third solo album “Ichche”, released last week. I’ve been listening to this song non-stop for the last 8 hours, and thought of sharing it with my readers. I’m dedicating it to a very special person — hope she understands what I want to mean.

Click here if you can’t see the Bangla text above.

Over 10,000 youngsters were present at Gulshan Youth Club playground to witness the first ever Anti-Corruption Youth Concert in Bangladesh. It was organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in order to create awareness among the youth of our generation against vices such as corruption which is manifested in almost all the sectors of the country. The slogan of the concert was “durjoy tarunno durnity rukhbei” which means “unconquerable youth will confront corruption”.

The performers were (in the order of appearance): Rab Fakir, Feedback, Souls, Fahmida Nabi, Hyder Hussein, Shahed, Pop guru Azam Khan, LRB, Meghdal, Aklima Baul, Gambhira troupe, Mehrin, Shironamheen, Pentagon, Meghdal, S. I. Tutul, Renaissance, Warfaze, Dolchhut, Black, Sumon from Aurthohin, and Artcell. Each of them sang two songs each.

Overall, it was a good concert. The sound system was okay, so was the security with enough armed police. Channel I recorded the entire program, whereas Radio Foorti and Radio Today telecasted live. Refreshments were available, coffee was sold for 3 taka per cup, burger and sandwich for 40 taka, hot dog and fountain coke for 15 taka. Two third of the crowd was under the age of 21, with a significant number of bosti people. Did I mention that the entry was free of cost?