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Michael Joseph Jackson.
If you can look past all the bizarre news in the media that had surrounded him the last several years of his life and concentrate just on his music alone, you would see him for the genius that he is. And speaking of the media...just take into account another favourite artist of mine..John Mayer..who so accurately wrote in one his songs “When you trust your television, what you get is what you got, cos when they own the information, they can bend it all they want”. That's telling it like it is.
When you have someone as famous as MJ, you can bet there were people..human parasites to be precise..around him who were more than ready to do anything (literally) to feed off of his popularity, wealth and fame. All they wanted was a piece of him..to sell and make a profit for themselves. No one ever truly knew MJ, the man – what he was truly like inside in his soul. Except maybe his creator.
Needless to say when we heard the news of his death, it was no less than devastating. How could someone, whose videos and songs are etched in our minds for eternity, who’s older than us yes, but younger than our parents, be suddenly gone? We had been contemplating doing a tribute to MJ since the end of 2008, but we never would have wished for such an occurrence, wherein his popularity would suddenly skyrocket just because of his sudden and mysterious death. Suddenly the whole music industry (both here and abroad) was in fervour, and everybody it seemed was doing some sort of tribute or the other to MJ. But we refused to budge when we got the expected calls from different event organizers. We had dreamed of this tribute for so long and we had had such big plans for it. No way were we going to compromise on those visions. We had wanted it to be a proper tribute – with not just MJ’s music but his great showmanship as well, with all the dances and theatrics. And so we waited. We waited till we were ready to put forth such a show.
On October 16, 2009, exactly three months and three weeks after his death, after countless meetings to address all the logistics issues, and all the band practices and dance practices, we staged a show at Le Saigon. Throughout the past months I’d painstakingly picked up the dance moves to “Thriller” and together with like-minded MJ dance enthusiasts, Tasaffy, Rahib, Nasr, Aashna and Sanam, we met 3-4 times a week to master the famous moves. It was SO darn HARD!!! And then one day Buno, a great musician and a great chum, came over to watch practice one day and pointed out that each new ‘step’ of the whole dance sequence started with the bass line! And presto! It ALL became SO easy!!! People, you should ALWAYS pay attention to the bass of every song out there. They carry immense power...I kid you not!
On the day of the show everyone was super tensed, especially yours truly, and misunderstandings and tempers flared...naturally. But thankfully there were more diplomatic people around to soothe and calm everyone’s nerves, so sticky situations got nicely unstuck. Hehe. And the best part – we managed to pick up the moves to “Beat It” as well that very morning. Yes...we were lucky to have such amazing dancers =)
On the music front we had tons of talented peeps as well. A few years ago we’d discovered a voice that truly befitted MJ’s countertenor...Leo. Saif had met Leo at work and had known then and there that he’d be the right choice in singing some of MJ’s earlier compositions (think songs from “Off the Wall”). We also had Jawad (’71) sing one of MJ’s most rocking songs ever, “Give in to Me”. We had the talented Nadeer Ahmed (of Maqsood O Dhaka and Stone Free fame) accompanying us on percussion. And then we had Fahim (SHOCK, Crystal Planet) on his super sexy white guitar, playing Eddie Van Helen’s solo in “Beat It” with more passion than the original artist himself.
Thus armed with all the right ammunition we staged one of the most fun shows ever! Against an amazing backdrop poster designed by Rahul, we belted out one hit song after the other and knew we were getting things right when the whole floor sang along with us. The level of excitement and high-adrenaline factor skyrocketed at the very end of the show...when all the dancers, in their Zombie costumes and make-up, courtesy of the ah-may-zing Sharmin aka Shundori aka Kani, came out and we all started doing the “Thriller” dance.
It was a night beyond all nights. Of all the shows we had done during last year, this was THE show that we know we’d remember till the day we die.
Only someone who loved MJ’s legacy of music as much as we do will understand what I’m trying to say. When we were ALL singing “Heal The World”, I could see each and every face of the audience standing in the front row and there was no denying the happiness everyone was feeling because of HIS tunes, HIS lyrics, HIS music.
And so I’ll just leave you with this thought...that this is what all of us should remember about this man. That his music...made us happy.
Clockwise from center: Event poster designed by Rahul; Me; Jasper in his white "Smooth Criminal" suit;, Fahim with his sexy guitar, smile & legs; the familiar sequined white glove; Sharmin readying Aashna and the rest of the dance troupe; Jasper moonwalking while the crowd cheers on; Leo on the mike; Emran on keys; Saif with his prized Fender; the Dance troupe striking a pose!
Ok. I know there’s been a l-o-o-o-o-ng gap between my previous post and this one, but too many things were happening in the real world for me to manage any time for my ‘virtual’ one.
Anyways. Let’s get straight to business shall we? :D I DO hope you all had a listen to some serious Led Zep and Miles stuff in the meantime? I had asked rather nicely as I recall.
Right about the time we were busy with our Rajshahi and Khulna tour, we got the offer to perform in our very first “Tribute” show, which always takes place at the Sheraton Winter Garden Ballroom in Dhaka. And oh boy, the genre chosen by the event firm was no joking matter. Classic rock. And to top that, we were given one of the toughest bands ever in the history of classic rock to cover. Yup. Ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about none other than *drum roll please* the one, the only... Led Zeppelin!
Now comes the sad truth. There are hardly that many die-hard Led Zep fans in Bangladesh. And whatever percentage of peeps there are, they basically know the two most popular Zep songs; “Stairway to Heaven” and “Kashmir”. Outside these two hits, people here have hardly listened to anything else of theirs. And I can vouch for the fact (as would the zillions of Zep fans worldwide), these people had NO idea what they were missing out on. Gems like “When the Levee Breaks” and “Black Dog” and “Immigrant Song” and... Well yes, you get the picture.
Soon after, the gruelling practice sessions for the show started. We took on board three very talented musicians – Jawad (of the band ’71) as a guest vocalist, Sunny (of ReDhun) as a guest guitarist and Imran bhai, harmonica-player extraordinaire. The former can hit high pitches like he was born to do it, and Sunny... well, I likened him to Jimmy Paige. A fitting thing to do trust me :D As for Imran bhai, have a look at this video to see his prowess over the harmonica.
There was a whole lot of ‘other’ drama involved regarding the whole show. During the months of practice we came to find out accidentally, that apparently this other band was covering Zep in the tribute. Without further ado, we of course contacted the event firm and they assured us that no, we were the only band who will be performing Zep that night. But yes, apparently a senior band in Bangladesh’s music industry were apparently very much against us performing at the Tribute and they had recommended the other band. They’re stance (or pitiful/lame ‘excuse’) for disfavouring us? “What can a funk band know about rock? That too classic rock? Ever since their inception they’ve established themselves as a funk band. Led Zep or any other classic stuff is out of their league.”
Well E-X-C-U-S-E us! Though funk is one of our true loves, it doesn’t mean that’s all we know or understand. I may not know THAT much about music but I can proudly say that thanks to my parent’s, sibling’s and extended family’s taste in music, I have pretty much grown up listening to and appreciating pretty much ALL genres of music. And Saif? One of his top two favourite bands from the world of rock and metal is “Rush” and “Megadeth”. He’s also a die hard fan of David Coverdale. He pretty much has their full discography in CD, DVD or mp3 format.
And we could say the same thing about the said band. “What can a POP band know about other genres of music? Ever since their inception 30 years back, they’ve established themselves as a POP band. Any other genre of music is out of their league.” But we won’t. Because we, for one, can see how baseless the whole statement is.
Well needless to say, this whole business made us even more determined than ever to show them (and everyone else who might have doubted us) that we COULD perform Led Zep songs and do it well.
On the night of the show, we got on stage after “Dreek” who had covered “AC/DC”. We knew we needed to give our very best because after us “Miles” was coming on stage to cover “Deep Purple”. We started with “Immigrant Song” and it was a rather shaky start but after that point onwards, each song we performed boosted our confidence further. By the time we started “Kashmir” (sung by Jawad), we were super high on adrenaline and it showed. We had known, from the very first, that it was this one song that would be our ultimate test with the audience. So when at the end of our set, we came down from the stage and had people and well-wishers telling us that “Kashmir” had actually given them goosebumps, we knew that we had given back the best rejoinder to all those people with no vision and no sense of the bigger picture.
Phew! There! I have vented my pent-up feelings about the whole matter quite enough I believe. So how about I end here before I put you all to sleep?
My next post is of course going to be about our first tribute to Michael Jackson. I say ‘first’ because this coming Friday, we are repeating the show for the second time. This time around, everyone’s a bit more relaxed and not dying in tension about every minute detail.
So till next my next post...Cheers everyone!
P.S. After the show we all went over to Pizza Hut in Gulshan to celebrate with all things cheesy and beefy :D
Clockwise from top left: dio with the stage backdrop behind him, sharing a joke during the sound check, saif & jawad chatting with the sound guys, saif's 2 mistresses (of many), saif & sunny doing their stuff, the zep gang (partial) at pizza hut for dinner after the show, saif & sunny again, imran bhai on the harmonica
Grishsho…I love grishsho! I love the haze, the heat, the humidity, the long days and the evenings spent half-listening to favorite music tracks while catching up on some fun reading. I don't know why I don't seem to have as much free time in the winter – my schedule stays the same – maybe it's just that time seems to move more slowly in the heat, and that I change my priorities from ‘clean my room’ to ‘don a ratty, cotton tee and gypsy skirt that’s seen better days; fix some refreshing, chilled jug of lebu’r shorbot or if I’m feeling lazy, Tang; and just chill in front of the TV’.
Grishsho or summer in this city of ours stands for so many, myriad of snap-shot memories or events. There’s inhaling the fragrances and appreciating the blazing hues of the lush flowers in perfect bloom – the regal rojonigondhas, the sunny shonalu and kodomphuls, the fiery red krishnochuras and rongons (the latter which I used to pick as a child to suck out the honey nectar inside), and the sweet-smelling beli, bokul, jui and gondhorajs. There’s eating something really cold on a really hot day, which tends to send an ache right through your jaws and head, but feels oh so great. There’s standing for hours-on-end under the invigorating beat of a cool, cool shower, feeling the rivulets of water roll down your scalp and skin, soothing your over-heated body. There’s the sudden increase in TV commercials and press ads for ice creams, icy soft drinks, air conditioners, and prickly heat powders.
There’s the onset of thunderstorms and rains from Pahela Baishakah onwards, falling in synchronized plunges into the lakes and ponds, and which bring with them one of the bestest grishsho smells ever – bhija maatir shoda gondho. Too bad you can’t bottle it up and market it, haha. And you hear the timeless composition of Mother Nature – the roll of thunder, the rimjhim and tapurtupur of brishti, the cricketycrick of crickets, the croaks of frogs – pure music to the ears.
There’re the fresh, fresh summer fruits and veggies. I love the variety and all the beautiful colors! I remember as a kid eagerly awaiting my father’s return from the kaacha bajar with sopping bags teeming with luscious aams, juicy lichus and pungent kathaals. Brings back some delightful memories of being a carefree kid on a sultry summer afternoon, gulping down all the yummy treats till it felt my tummy was gonna burst. I still over-indulge these days! Guess some things never change, thank god!
Then there are a few items on the ‘I-can-definitely-do-without-these-during-grishsho’ list. There’s the dratted load shedding which goes with the territory of summers in Dhaka city, making the heat more unbearable. There’s the chance of getting food poisoning after having some questionable looking glass of juice from a street-side vendor. There’s bugs, particularly mosquitoes and ants, which suddenly seen to come alive in the armies! There’s having your clothes stick to your skin, all clammy and irritating. But these ‘concerns’ seem paltry compared to all the great things about summer.
All in all, grishsho kaal has it’s own addictive charm. So I’m gonna pull up an easy chair, nurse a glass of chilled float in my hands, and just take a load off my feet and lie back to enjoy the season in all its glory. Care to join me?
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