[Continued from last issue]

In television music programs hold its own importance. The reason behind this importance is because audience does not always want to see dramas or television show all the time but in case of music they surely want to watch it more. Audience would love to watch a good song. This might be the reason why there are so many channels centered on music. This channels sole identity revolves around music.

Keeping audience part aside, in television a song is repeated most of the time so it restores the audience with a great deal of archive value. Nowadays the music channels are highly conscious about the music video. Apart from focusing on the artists the producers were also conscious about how to highlight the background of the video. Music enthusiastic has various opinions about these music videos. Television personality Mustafa Monwar was once asked a question in a program as to “How people like to listen to music” to which he replied “People love listening to music closing their eyes while sitting on a comfortable chair”. If people enjoying listening to music while closing their eyes then what is the need for spending so much money on music video? But even so the music video trend did not end there.

In 1964 the journey of television was started with Ferdousi Rahman's television show. The song which was written by Dr. Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal was cinematographed by Rafiqul Bari Chowdhury.

After that there were many music programs in television. After the introduction of Ferdousi Rahman song then came the musical entrance of Nazrul song specialist and artist Feroza Begum.

At that time there was a modern day music program in television called “Surbitan”.

At that time famous artists like Shahnaz Rahmatulah, Sabina Yasmin, Syed Abdul Hadi, Mohammad Abdul Jabbar, Khandakar Faruk Ahmed, M. A. Hamid, Mohammed Ali Siddiqui and many more participated in Surobiten. At that time the program gained lots of popularity. Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Sangeet, Folk songs was also telecast like that. At that artist used to directly perform with the musicians. These kind of programs used to be aired live in television.

In 1971 liberation war Television played a major role in promoting music at that time. From 1st March till 25th March used to be showcased in television and also Fahmida Khatun voice to the Rabindra Sangeet “Aji Bangladesher Hridoy Hote” was also aired continuously, which used to excite the patriotism among the nationalities.

After the country was liberated a folk festival was arranged in Dhaka in 1974. An 18 year old girl from Kushtia comes to Dhaka with the tune of Lalon music in her voice. By performing a spell bounding Lalon music she mesmerizes the audience. She is none other than Farida Parvin.

In the 80's a new era of music begins in television.  There came a huge difference in terms of performance. Khaleda Fahmi produced an amazing program with the performance of a patriotic song sung by Runa Laila. The outdoor shooting was well-defined. The program was done in such a way as to keep a similarity between each song in the cinematography. There was presence of modern and beauty in Runa Laila's performance. This program added another dimension to Bangladesh television.

Mitali Mukherjee came from Mymensingh. Musa Ahmed has produced lots of musical programs with this musically skilled artist. Mitali Mukherjee song popularity is still intact till date. Apart from singing modern day song Sabina Yasmin is also well known for singing patriotic songs.

By Musa Ahmed's production came “Majhi Naw |Chhaira De” and with the production of Kamrunessa came Shundor-Shuborno-Laborno Ey Desh or the song Ey Rail Lin er Dhare Moddho Boyoshi Ek Naari Ekhono Royechhe Dariye. And also the famous poem “Sadhinota Tumi Robi Thakurer Omor Kobita” written by poet Shamsur Rahman and music given by Khandakar Nurul Alam was given voice by Sabina Yasmin. She also sang the famous cult song “Shob Kota Janala Khule Daw Na”.

Bidit Laal Das and his team came from Sylhet. They performed a lot of Sylheti songs at that time.

An artist came out from the team and he is none other than the famous musician in our country Subir Nandi.

Most of the songs sung by Mohammad Rafiqul Alam and Abida Sultana gained much popularity at that time.

The writer is Managing Director, Channel i

Translated by Imtiaz Salim