90'z
Rocking the decade

With exclusive songs like Feedback's Melae Jaire and Nagar Baul's Tarae Tarae were rock hits and sold like pancakes back in the 90's. The 90's were described as the Golden Era of Bangladesh rock music scenario. Bands like Aurthohin, Artcell and Black were still little (excuse my exaggeration) kids during the early 90's while the bands like Warfaze, Miles and LRB were already mainstream favorites. Bands like RockStrata were gaining immense momentum. Feedback's upbeat tracks like Melae Jaire were all-time favorites and they still are. Feelings and Ark were the bands everyone knew about. Nagar Baul introduced Bangladesh to a whole new way of singing. The songs were passionate, the music was unique, and the lyrics were catchy, mind-blowing, something, which the senior mainstream bands unfortunately, do not show often nowadays. It was in the nineties when solo concert scenario portrayed the artists in their full energy. Jewel of Miles describes it as the era when crowd appreciated a band's performance though solo concerts, “Back then, the solo concerts were the main and the most important way of exhibiting a band's talent. The mixed concerts nowadays do not really allow the better bands to prove their skills in front of crowd to that large extent.” The crowd had the best of the East with them and the huge turnout in the solo concerts proved it! The venues like Women's Complex were filled to the brim during such concert days! Side-by-side, the foreign influence in our urban taste of music was also great- music from India, US, UK, and all the pop boy bands ruled our fantasies! Sweet days…thinking of it, I myself was crazy about boy bands like Backstreet Boys…now I find it rather silly :@ !

Hmm…no more nostalgia from my side…but I can bet you that I was an avid fan of LRB and Ayub Bachchu. LRB formed in 1990 and brought out a double album as a debut band around mid '92 that, at that time, was not only brave but also gave rise to numerous hit songs. They were basically the first band according to the mass population; to play the most energized UNPLUGGED show ever! Later on, around 1993-1994, the Bengali music enthusiasts started seeing metal bands like Cryptic Fate, Dethrow, PsychoDeth and Maestria. RockStrata and top gun Warfaze played metal numbers by Iron Maiden and also numbers of AC/DC, Metallica These top guns, along with In Dhaka, Aces and Sweet Venom were the 'change agents' of the 90's music scenario. RockStrata were a great hit among the young generation but they soon dissolved. From the above named bands, Cryptic Fate is still the most beloved respected senior bands in the underground scenario. The late nineties proved to be a platform for bands like Artcell (ex-Tantrik) and Black were slowly emerging. The limelight switched on to them with the crowd divided in to those who appreciated the mainstream and others who loved the underground.

Back in the 90's, the venues for such concert events would be Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon Ballroom, Engineering Institute Auditorium, Shishu Academy and many more like the Stadium and Women's Complex. In the late nineties, RCC became a more favorite concert arena... Tickets used to be sold-out and it was then that we realized that the good days had started for us. But, now the question remains, with the underground music scenario slowly shifting from Heavy Metal to other arenas of music like Death Metal, Alternative and another newer version called Psychedelic Rock (!) are we going to ignore the 90's influence completely?

THANKS TO JEWEL (MILES) FOR SHARING HIS VIEWS REGARDING THE 90's! We all loved the 90's didn't we?

By Shamma M. Raghib

Rising High is a battlefield where teens battle it out for supremacy in the school’s social hierarchy. Enter our four protagonists: Prianka the Queen Bee, Lamia the feather-brained girlie girl, Afrida the nerd, and the new girl Sadia. So far, we’ve seen Prianka and Lamia pick on Sadia for kicks, and Afrida disdainfully looking on, until a sudden fight between Prianka and Lamia causes a surprise shifting of loyalties. Sadia finds herself in the awkward position of being Lamia’s new best friend. Is there really more to the feminine wannabe than meets the eye?

Dear diary,
I am so confused. Sadia has been really good to me, and I like her a lot more now. She doesn’t pass mean comments about me the way Prianka used to, and she helps me with homework, and stuff like that. She’s also a lot like Prianka, as in, she can be really bossy when she wants too, but she does it in a very polite way. But she’s not fun in the way Pree used to be. She doesn’t like shopping, actually hates Hindi soaps, doesn’t like talking on the phone unless it’s about school, and absolutely hates gossiping! We have almost nothing in common…except romance novels. She’s an M & B buff like me. Should I be having mixed feelings about my friends?

Speaking of Pree, ever since Saquib asked her out, she’s stopped picking on Sadia. She doesn’t talk to me at all, but she’s isn’t mean to me, and when some of her other friends try to be mean, she doesn’t join them. Sadia still can’t stand her, but I know that Pree isn’t mean to anyone unless she’s upset about something. Usually, she gets like that when her parents go off on one of their business trips. She never says anything, but I think she misses them a lot.

An amazing thing happened at school today. Our Biology teacher, Hafiz sir was really impressed with my diagram of the human heart. I mean, I didn’t get all the labels right, but apparently he liked the way I had coloured it. He actually took it to the art teacher, and she asked me to show her more samples of my work. I don’t know what to think…Sadia thinks I should definitely get a portfolio together, but I’m not so sure I’m that good…and I don’t know

Anyway, diary. I should probably go and get my sketches and watercolors ready before going over to Sadia’s. I’m staying over at her place, and we’re going to watch the 1 am match together. I don’t really like football, but the players are so cute!
Lamia

By Sabrina F Ahmad

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Fresh, spirited, prosperousthese words were enough to capture the essence of the town. It had all that was required for a healthy life. Green fields could be viewed as far as the eyes could see. The horizon was embellished with tall treestrees which had their heads held high in the sky, looking down majestically at the town and protecting it from the ravaging winds. The feet of those trees were lined with shrubs and herbs, many of which were adorned with wild flowers. These flowers had something very special about them. Their fragrance filled the air in a soothing smell. It was surprising that even in winter, when everything was covered with snow, some of the flowers were still in bloom.

Talking about snow, even the winter was beautiful in the heavenly town. The town used to be transformed into a crystal kingdom, sparkling and dazzling brightly. The snow that fell on the trees converted them into confections of sugar. The farmyard muck used to be brown and hard, dusted with frost, as if it was a baked bread-pudding. The children used to happily feed the cows with hay packed like tobacco flakes, that had grass and wild flowers juicily fossilized within itas if an entire summer was embalmed in the children's arms. The crystal clear spring used to be frozen and looked like a huge swollen flower. The distant flowers in the weak sun resembled crumpled oyster shells.

Summer time in the town was no less than paradise. Birds chirping on the overhanging boughs, ornate trees with luxuriant foliage, rabbits and squirrels out in the sun to play hide and seekit had been an ostentatious display of nature's wealth. People in the town enjoyed the sight of colorful wings of butterflies and dragonflies prancing from flower to flowerit was Mother Nature's personal collection.

However the tranquility of the town was not long lasting. There came a day when no birds could be seen feeding on the berries and singing merrily. The birds had all migrated to other places. The few birds that were left were very near to death. The trees that had been standing proudly were chopped off to make firewood. The other trees that were alive were screaming for their lives. The sweet smelling air now contained harmful gases, which was affecting every living being in the town. Not even the little children were spared from this “genocide”. They no longer fed the cows. There were no cows to feed anyway. All the domestic animals in the farmyard had either dropped dead or were suffering from severe ailments. Healthy children were seen to die within a few hours. Not even the best doctors could identify the cryptic cause of their demise.

The spring that once bore crystal clear water was now nothing but a mere pool with shades of different dirty colors. The trees were all in shades of brownbut that was not because of the autumn. The polluted environment had left them no other choice. The people craved for a sight of crispy green leaves. The still bodies of the dead rabbits washed by the red glow of twilight were melancholy sights for the inhabitantsnot that many inhabitants were alive to witness the heartrending scenes.

These were the aftermaths of modernization, the “blessings” and “gifts” of technology. A strange stillness ruled the town. It was as if the town was taken over by the shadow of death.