I became numb when I signed my first Vinyl record: Mehreen

From "Anari" to "Rajkumar", Mehreen isn't your quintessential artiste. Her deep, soothing voice, as well as her presentation, has always awed listeners. Recently, the singer launched her Vinyl album "Bondhuta" which is the first LP (Long Play) to be produced in Bangladesh after 40 years.

Initially, the Vinyl will be available in two outlets- Noise and Analogue Beat. The limited-edition LP has been priced BDT 4000.

Tell us about your Vinyl album 'Bondhuta' and how did you come up with it?

I wasn't the one who came up with the Vinyl idea, it was RTV's Managing Director Humayun Kabir Bablu who came up with this unique idea.

Bablu bhai was thinking of producing records of old bands and I was really happy that I was the first to have her own Vinyl album. My album "Bondhuta" was probably released around 2017, but I never got to properly launch it.

He called me in America two years ago, and told me that that he wants to make a Vinyl record out of it. Bablu bhai worked hard to ensure that high-end record covers were used to make it adhere to international standards. I was just numb when I was signing the LP, and I couldn't believe I was holding the actual record as it came from London on April 29.

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How do you think Jazz and pop genres influenced your music?

"Anari" was more disco-pop. I went on to do rock pop, Melo-pop, and then world pop-jazz. Actually, it all depends on my voice quality and its texture. I am really thankful that I worked with unique musicians who know that they can experiment with my voice. I have a unique vocal but I am not that innovative -- so I chose people who know how to bring my best. I am a non-commercial singer who doesn't do her work for the sake of money, it has to be interesting for me.

You have been missing from the music industry for some time.

I work in intervals. My debut album "Anari" was released in 2000, after that album I had my first baby and so I had to take some time off. And then after 2002, I began work, and from there onwards I released an album in 2004, and 2006. It takes me a long time to produce my album because of the phase of music. If you would look at the likes of Fuad and Manam Ahmed, they are genius, but they haven't produced thousands of songs. It just goes on to show that creativity takes time.

What was your biggest hurdle in the industry?

I am a music laborer –I have gone from cassettes to CD, from CD to MP3, and from MP3 to pendrive, and now to LP. While the LP is incredible for me, YouTube is certainly my future. However, my biggest hurdle was to accept my voice, now my voice is pretty common. Nowadays, most of the artistes who are coming to the industry have a heavy voice like mine. It was really hard to get the right sound engineer for my voice during my initial stint.

 You have been seen in lots of musical programmes this Eid. Do you have any memorable incidents from those shows?

 I had a wonderful time shooting with my band in athe live music programme for Maasranga. This was their sole in-house programme for Eid, and I had a great time shooting for it. 

I requested AR Rahman in his email asking whether he would be interested to convey his Eid greetings to Bangladesh and he replied within 10 minutes. This was really special for me.