The MTV-effect enveloped the entire world in its fearful web, leaving nothing untouched by its web of glittering glamour. Some may mourn it, others celebrate it, but witness what happened on Sept. 15, 2007 at the William Doo Auditorium.
Most of the audience was on their feet, but a certain section actually emerged from the audience and gathered on stage to join the musicians. They were inspired by the rendition of “Cholo Bangladesh,” (literally, “Let’s Go Bangladesh”) by a group dubbed the “York University Band” (for the lack of a real name) at the Bangladesh Flood Relief Concert, organized by the Bangladeshi Students’ Association as part of a response to the devastating floods, and aiming to raise money for aid. They resorted to local talent, namely Toronto rock bands with a Bangladeshi twist.
“Cholo Bangladesh” was originally written years ago by Cryptic Fate, a band from Dhaka’s young, rock-obsessed underground-music scene written to celebrate the country’s cricketing success, it quickly became an anthem for the concert- going teenage children of the higher income groups. The reaction here is a metaphor for the parallel growth of a twin underground-music culture that has sprung up recently among Bengali residents in Toronto.
Drama was flowing aplenty at the show even before the stage was invaded, with a series of auctions that brought in $1055: a miniature bat with prized signatures from several star cricketers from the Bangladesh national squad and one from the Sri Lankan team, and a pair of Jerseys actually worn during a World Cup Cricket match (which someone claimed had not been washed since), and a hotel-room for two which had nothing to do with cricket.
And then there was even some good music. A distorted, powerchord rendition of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” by Taxivision, which took everyone a few seconds to recognize, but was as interesting as you would expect from such a union of competing schools of pop-rock. Taxivision was impressive because they kept themselves comfortably rooted in Western pop music—their specialty.
Aubak (“Speechless”) landed back on solid ground after their opening instrumental based on the first line of the Bangladeshi national anthem, and produced a unique sound, fusing electric and acoustic guitars with the tabla, rounded off nicely by bass and classical vocal lines in the background.
For the most part, Bengali rock songs monopolized the show, and you really don’t know Bengali rock until you’ve seen it the way the rich punk kids do it. There was some of that too.
Better than the music is the cause. Some $7000 dollars made from the drive will go to a flood response initiative by the name of Prothom Alo, and whether or not in the end it makes a real difference to the annual cycle of devastation, it’s encouraging to see efforts where the disaster is merely a very distant reality
