How was Mongolbarota conceived?

It all started when Tonmoy and Upama decided to make the rendition of the legendary Tagore song "Jokhon Porbe Na Mor Payer Chinho". After that we covered few tracks including a tribute towards the Bangla Language Movement,"Bhashar Gaan", which gave us some spotlight. But deep inside, we always felt the urge to create something significant which would feature our roots. At first it was only Tonmoy and Upama; later Zahid joined in and we made a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore , featuring his two songs "Sokatore Oi and Anondoloke". Our friends Santanu and Tariq helped us with the music. The most interesting point about the tribute was the video. We tried to give a hopeful glimpse at life through smiling faces in that video. Many of our friends helped us to collect footage and compile the video. The name Mongolbarota is taken from the second line of the Tagore song "Sokatore Oi". Few days later Ibriju and Sadbee joined in and finally Mongolbarota started.

Who are your inspirations?

Rabindranath Tagore and his works, his views towards life and nature are our key inspirations. Other inspirations are Kazi Nazrul Islam, S.D Barman,  Arnob, Anjan Dutta, The Beatles, Adele, Pink Floyd and the list goes on.

What is your first hit cover?

Our first hit cover is "Jokhon Porbe Na Mor Payer Chinho" which recently crossed the benchmark of 100 thousand views in YouTube. It is our first work and we have lots of emotional attachment towards this song.

Tell us about your views regarding the changing landscape of the music industry.

We are hopeful. Many musicians and bands are experimenting with different genres and coming up with good stuff. Few online platforms and portals have been created to distribute the works of the artists. At present music industries all over the world are YouTube oriented and ours is not an exception. So musicians are focusing on making more interesting and meaningful videos and this is a

good sign.

Where do you plan to see yourselves in the future?

We are more of a fusion act than any specific genre. We are trying to experiment with rock, pop, folk and most importantly our old classics. No matter what we do, we will try our best to provide positive and hopeful messages through our songs and renditions. Right now we are also working on few original numbers. In the future we have high hopes to be a part of the big music industry of our country. Lots of hopes and expectations, let's see how everything goes. After all, only the sky is the limit!

by Sadi Mohammad Shahnewaz