On the March 1, Balam's third solo album, unimaginatively titled “Balam-3”, came out. In 2007, when Balam's mushy crooning first disseminated in the music scene, fans rushed to the music stores. Since then there has been no looking back.
The artiste recently spoke to The Daily Star about his latest album and much more.
According to the singer, “'Balam 3' features some songs titled 'Chokher Arale', 'Ektu Darao', 'Ki Nesha' and more that I'm in love with. You can say I am my biggest fan.”
His initiation and journey into the music scene:
Balam: “I grew up listening to my parents sing. I started playing guitar in class 8. I used to play for six/ seven hours everyday. I remember bunking classes just to do that.”
“In class 10, I along with some friends formed the band Renegade. We also cut an album. That was in 1991. After that album everyone got busy with his own life. Habib, who was in the band, went to London. I stayed back in Bangladesh. We are still good friends.
“In 1997 I joined Warfaze -- mainly because of the passion I had for guitar. I was in the band for seven/eight years. I attained recognition as a member of Warfaze.
“Later, however, I had a change of heart. I thought about doing something different, going solo. In 2005 I was featured in this mixed album called 'Prem Shikari'. I had two songs in the album and my sister Julie had two. It was more like an experiment, but it inspired me to go solo. Then in 2007 came my first solo that had 'Luko Churi' and some more hits. That I suppose was my breakthrough work.
“I became more serious about music, about how I can improve myself. In 2008, my second solo album was out.”
Is he ever going back to rock?
Balam: “Well, I think I will incorporate rock but not in the way I used to. May be it would be a blend.
“I don't want to be known as 'Balam the rockstar’, or 'popstar'. I just want to be known as an artiste.
Incidentally, Balam performed last night at a concert along with Habib, Nancy and Julie to raise funds for Afra, a cancer patient.