Songwiters' Collective: Promising platform promotes original music with 'First Draft'

It was a cloudy Saturday afternoon, maybe just another afternoon for thousands of city dwellers. But for them, it was a journey of both excitement and uncertainty. Two young music lovers travelled almost 200 kilometres from a district of North Bengal, Bogura, to the capital, only to attend their favourite singer's performance.

On 23 August, these two young men, Mehedi and Hasan, who just passed the HSC exam, were found roaming in front of event space Aloki, searching for the hall where The Songwriters Collective's First Draft was taking place. With the tagline "No covers allowed," the Songwriters Collective brought together a group of independent songwriter-singers at this acoustic gig. Songwriter-singers including Aseer Arman, Atif Imtiaz, Ishmamul Farhad, Sadi Shahnewaz, Shanila Islam performed their original numbers, along with other musicians at this minimalist yet cosy arrangement.

With great excitement, Mehedi told The Daily Star that he and his friend Hasan are great fans of Aseer Arman and that they came all the way to watch him perform and, if possible, meet him in person. "The songs of Aseer Arman are thought-provoking and they take me to a different world. While trying to understand his lyrics and compositions, I fell in love with his songs. This love has made me come from Bogura," he said.

Hasan thinks that a gig like this enables the audience to absorb the full essence of music. He said, "In larger electrified concerts, being surrounded by a huge crowd and ground-shaking bass, it's quite difficult to get the raw taste of music. But here, I can enjoy Aseer bhai's songs to the fullest, with all their rawness as well as discover other independent songwriters and singers that I haven't heard before."

This is the first time such a gathering of independent songwriter-singers has been arranged at one of the capital's most happening venues, like Aloki.

One of the organisers and co-founders of the Songwriters Collective, Sadi Shahnewaz, who happens to be the Editor of The Daily Star's Arts & Entertainment, and vocalist of Old Dhaka Diaries, said, "We cover lots of events and concerts where we see bands and musicians doing cover numbers, but the musicians making original lyrics and compositions lack the platform and coverage they deserve. To represent such under-represented songwriter-singers, Ishmam and I took this initiative under the Songwriters Collective. We welcome anyone who writes and sings to join this platform." He expressed his gratitude to the audience for their presence in such a short-notice impromptu arrangement. "We never thought 20 people would come and attend, but a room full of audience has amazed us," he said.

Ishmamul Farhad, guitarist of band Shunno, and co-founder of the Songwriters Collective, told The Daily Star that they want to increase opportunities for the songwriter-singers so that they can promote and showcase their original compositions. "Creators of original songs need to connect to their actual audience because original songs are the reflections of our society and the truth of it. So being musicians, we believe it's our responsibility to preserve them."

Looking back to where it all started, Ishmamul recalled meeting Sadi Shahnewaz through journalist and singer Elita Karim, back in 2018. And after all these years, when Sadi came forward for such an initiative, he couldn't help but join the cause. He is delighted to be working together for the cause and thanked Sadi for being the driving force behind it.

The show started with a guest performance from Zarif, who turned one of his party-going experiences into a song. It tells a story where he meets a girl, but loses her phone number and ends up singing the song to find her back. As the first performance ended, it was evident to the audience that it was not another gig to jump and throw their body with the groove and melody, but rather one that tells stories, strikes emotions and gives punches of raw music.

The only female songwriter-singer at the show, Shanila Islam, garnered the audience's applause through her versatile performance. Most of her songs are written about personal experiences. "I love telling stories through music because I'm not good at talking," she said. She also said that she loves such small arrangements because here, she gets to sing her songs as well as interact with the audience directly.

People were charmed to see Sadi with his guitar, who has long been a pen warrior and promoted thousands of musicians and songwriters for over a decade now. People not only enjoyed his melodious originals but also sang along with him. Sadi was accompanied by singer Pehnaz Upama on two duet songs.

His performance was followed by the lively performances of Ishmamul Farhad and Atif Imtiaz.

For Atif, the former vocalist of band Conclusion, this show was authentic, personal and fantastic. He played some of his unreleased songs. According to him, in these kinds of shows a musician gets the freedom to improvise his/her way, whereas a band is a joint effort and songs are mostly performed in a fixed way. That makes these kinds of shows different.

This initiative by the Songwriters Collective was appreciated by prominent musicians like Joy Shahriar, Farzana Wahid Shayan and Sharmin Sultana Sumi of band Chirkutt.

Joy Shahriar, who was present at the event, is hopeful about the country's growing indie music scene. He said, "Today's show proves that the indie scene is growing. Nowadays, we see increasing small-scale shows organised by independent musicians at different venues, so now it's a time to be hopeful."

He also arranges an event called "Gaanwalader Gaan" to promote singers and songwriters. "I am a singer-songwriter, and such an arrangement is very close to my heart. I bought my ticket right after seeing Sadi's post and I encourage them to organise more shows like this," he said. However, he emphasised arranging gigs outside Dhaka too.

The show ended with the mesmerising performance of Aseer Arman, who was super surprised to learn that his fans had come all the way from North Bengal to watch him perform. He feels the need for such shows, as they help the musicians to closely connect with their audience, which is almost impossible in a full-fledged stage concert. He said, "The number of limited-scale in-house shows like the one today are increasing day by day, which is needed because in concerts with larger crowds and bigger stages, the musicians remain disconnected from the audience due to its arrangement patterns. But here people feel connected and their emotions blend well."

Watching the first gig of the Songwriters Collective, many songwriter-singers have approached the organisers, who hope to take this initiative to other districts across the country, and also look forward to arranging a gig dedicatedly for the female songwriter-singers.

Photo: Thabit Al Bashar