'Banglar Rock Metal' launching on Aug 5

From East Pakistan to Bangladesh, this country has an enriched history of 'band-music' that spans over six decades.

‌Haque Faruk and Milu Aman, two dedicated souls, came together to preserve the unarchived history of Bangladeshi band music in the form of a book titled "Banglar Rock Metal".

The book not only carries a chronological history of the development of Bangladeshi band music, but also the authentic profiles of over 170 bands along with their discographies.

Haque, now a senior journalist, and Milu, a full-fledged writer, have worked separately as music-journalists for many years.

‌With their combined experience, and almost two years of relentless effort, the duo will publish their book, "Banglar Rock Metal" on August 5.

‌Haque said that he has spent hours at the archive section of different libraries working on this book. The duo not only depended on the existing documents but also decided to record the oral history of living band members.

"We crosschecked the information with the former band members who are still alive. It was an arduous process, and we had to go above and beyond to track down and contact some of the musicians. Some of them have also been living in different parts of the world for decades now," said ‌Haque.

‌"For example, the members of the 90s band Aces now live abroad, scattered across different countries. They also found it difficult to recall their glory days, as it has been a very long time since they were in their prime. So, we created a group chat on social media, and gave them plenty of time to sit down and recall the decade-old memories," explained Milu.

"We followed their conversations from the group and noted down what one can call an almost erased histories," said the co-author.

This book is being published by Aajob Prokash. The book cover was designed by Niaz Ahmed Aungshu, the cover typography was done by Mustafiz Karigar and the essential graphics were done by Kousik Zaman.

‌Publisher Joy Shahriar, a renowned musician and founder of Aajob Prokash, said that they are all set for a book launching ceremony on August 5. However, the venue has not been decided as of yet.

‌"Pre-orders are open till launching, but we have already received an overwhelming response from the 'band-music' fans. Currently, we are estimating that the first-print run of the book will be out of stock as soon it is launched," said Joy.

‌According to Joy, this book has enabled the nation to overcome the reluctant culture of not preserving and documenting our history in a proper manner.

"Banglar Rock Metal" can be pre-ordered via the Facebook page of Aajob Prokash at a discounted price.

"As the price of the 450-page hardbound book will be around BDT 1000, it might cause students and young music-enthusiasts to struggle to buy the book. That is why we wanted to provide a discount for these fans during the pre-order campaign," added Joy.

Ziaur Rahman Zia, band leader and bassist of Shironamhin said that this was a much-needed initiative, and that he is happy that someone took on the responsibility to give people an authentic record of the country's band-music history.

‌"The importance of archiving has always been relevant, and we're really fortunate that this talented duo, who witnessed the scene for almost four decades, successfully took this initiative," said Zia.

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