Bangla Five: Telling stories through music

Bangla Five started their journey with an immense level of support from the varsity-going audience. Now, they are gradually becoming a regular name in the concert scene.

The band have been greatly appreciated for their socially conscious lyrics and energetic performances. Recently, they shared the stage with 14 other bands in India's Krishnanagar, eventually followed by the release of their second album, "Lukiye Thakar Shomoy".

Bangla Five is a four-man band featuring Sina Hasan on vocals, Ahnaf Khan Anik on guitar, Rafin Mahmud on bass guitar and Adnan Rushdi on drums. However, they consider the audience to be the fifth member of their band.

After singer-songwriter Sina Hasan released his debut album, "Lastbench" (2017), him and Ahnaf Khan Anik teamed up with bassist Rafin Mahmud and drummer Mehedi Hasan to form the band. However, Mehedi was later replaced by Adnan Rushdi during the production of the band's debut album "Confusion" (2019).

In conversation with The Daily Star, the band opened up about their upcoming projects and views regarding music.

What does music mean to Bangla Five?

It's an art medium, through which we express our thoughts using sound and melody. We try to compose music on the basis of topics and themes, with which people can relate. And of course, we believe that music is for entertainment. When our audiences headbang to our songs, they not only get the lyrics, but they also enjoy the musical presentation.

Is Dhaka University's TSC an important location for you?

Yes, many people came to know about our songs from TSC. Once upon a time, between 2010–2013, we would regularly perform there. Those moments still encourage us to continue to make music.

What motivates the band to come up with such thought provoking lyrics?

The motivation behind the lyrics and composition is the world we are living. For example, there's a song "Bibek Er Adalot"—from our second album—where three characters are appearing, two lawyers and a judge. We designed three types of guitar parts for their conversation.

We found the theme from experiencing the real court house, and replicated the idea into a song, where a thief is fighting with himself, within his own mind through these three characters. So, writing lyrics or composing music is also about replicating real life in unique and creative ways. No one can draw inspiration from something that they have not experienced.

Nowadays, the number of political or protest related music has drastically dwindled. What is the reason behind this?

This is happening due to a lack of interest to learn about ourselves. Where there is no knowledge, there is no responsibility. Even when a few political songs are released, the lyrics are often not mature. It almost seems like they opened an English to Bengali dictionary and took the toughest words and wrote it into the lyrics. It even feels as if they have no idea about Bengali grammar and spelling.

This problem is observed all over the country. How do we expect a 'political' song from a person who does not understand the difference between the vowel 'i' and 'y'?

Does your latest album, "Lukiye Thakar Shomoy", follow any specific theme?

The album does not have any singular theme. The songs represent both inner feelings and the experiences from the world. For example, "Atolantik" is about the friendship of Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi and Shams Al Tabrez—the type of friends you do not see together every day, but their connection is spiritual.

Last month Bangla Five performed alongside 14 other bands in India. How was the experience?

Krishnanagar cannot give us a full picture of India. However, we observed that there were elderly people who came to watch our live performance. The place is not as cosmopolitan as Kolkata. People are very 'culturally minded', and we were amazed by their hospitality and professionalism. We are grateful to Krishnanagar. We have heard stories about how Bangladeshi bands went to participate and returned with terrible experiences. So, we're blessed that it didn't happen to us.

What are you all busy with at present?

The band is working on a new song called "Deyal", which will feature Tawfique Ahmed. We will also be busy with concerts, as we have more shows right after Eid.

At the same time, we are also planning for our next album, for which we are researching on topics that we would like to work with.