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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!
Hello everyone…
On yesterday’s post I’d left you all at the point where I’d been talking about our tribute to ABBA shows at the Dhaka and Chittagong Clubs. Of these, the latter stands out quite starkly in my mind.
It was a Thursday…the 25th of June.
The show was the most fun we’ve had in a while. After all, it’s given that there’ll always be an increased level of excitement when performing in any shows outside Dhaka city, that involves any modicum of travelling. The setting, the crowd…it’s all different…all new. We were even accompanied by a guest performer, Sunny...who's one of my friend, Tooki's, bro-in-law :)..that is Sunny's her hubby, Sham's (who's also my friend) younger sibling. He was playing as our second keyboardist.
Laila had toned down her script a little to avoid any faux-pas with the more conservative Chatgaiyyas (n.b. before this statement makes your hackles rise, my hubby is one and I’m just stating a widely known sentiment here…not making any personal attacks, lol) and I remember that while I’d travelled by plane to Chittagong because of my back pain, the rest of the GT gang, along with a couple of friends, had opted to travel by a microbus. They’d started off early morning on the day of the show and all other variables remaining constant, should have arrived in Chittagong by one in the afternoon…max.
Well if only life was a fairytale. Well it isn’t. And there are no fairy godmothers to help out either.
The micro met with a slight miss-hap along the way…near Kachpur bridge…and was declared, on the spot, unfit for further travel.
And so the gang waited in a ramshackle of a tong’er dokan (i.e. roadside tea-stall) for another micro to come all the way from Dhaka. Needless to say, by the time they arrived at the club, all their energy had fizzled out, Shammu Bhai’s nerves were frayed to the point of non-existence, and we had only a couple of hours in our hands to perform a sound check and then get ready for the main show.
As usual, once the show started the adrenaline rush kicked in. The best part was when we all ganged-up on one of our closest friends, Fahim, to play a small, small part in the script during Laila’s rendition of “Does Your Mother Know?”. He was simply fab on stage…all cocky and sure…until Laila, struck with sudden inspiration and as befitting her character in the play, started unbuttoning his shirt…haha! Then he became all flustered and kept re-fastening his buttons as soon as Laila was working them open…:D It was a classic candid-camera moment.
Once the ABBA tribute had been wrapped up, the crowd and our manager-cum-biggest cheerleader Shammu bhai, started clamoring for a usual GrooveTrap “set list” of songs. And so we made the crowd shake their bootie with a few popular tracks, and as is our trademark, ended the set with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
We then sat down to sample the rather interesting menu...biriyani with red wine. It didn’t matter that Saif and I are teetotalers. We could still sympathize with the rest of the diners, who were thrown into a mild state of confusion over the whole thing. The biriyani was fab though. In fact, everything was fab with the world. The DJ had come on, and high on the feel-good rush at the end of a great gig, we danced till our feet couldn’t take it anymore. Then while I went to bed (the boring girl that I am…well I did have a raging headache!), the whole gang stayed up till nearly 4 AM, playing UNO in one of the bigger rooms.
None of us…nor the rest of the world, I can say…could have predicted what was coming next…
The following morning we all woke up to the terribly shocking news. Michael Jackson had passed away…apparently of cardiac arrest. It’s eerie how one remembers every single detail of a moment in time when faced with a situation that is simply to horrible to grasp. I can describe that day to a tee. And I kept thinking about how we’d been planning to do a tribute to MJ since the beginning of the year…and not just perform his songs but put forth a full-fledged show with his most famous dance sequences. And we’d performed “Thriller” just the night before! And now some nondescript news presenter on television was claiming that he was gone?!? How was that even possible?
The guys were all a bit stunned by the whole episode I’d say. They couldn’t express their feelings quite as easily and the only way they were able to pay their respects to this iconic entertainer was on the road back home. Saif tuned the micro’s radio to the same frequency as his cell phone’s FM transmitter and then proceeded to play MJ’s full discography saved in his playlist, all the way from Dhaka to Chittagong.
I think that is perhaps the most beautiful aspect of MJ’s legacy.
There are many ways one can mourn the loss of someone in their lives. But if you celebrate the very essence…the core principles…that that person stood for, I believe that it is the best way he or she would like to be held in remembrance.
With MJ…it was his music, his love for entertaining and performing, his immense capacity for imagination…that helped him reach out to millions of people all over the world. And so it is by reveling in his songs…be it by listening to them, performing them or even sharing them with future generations…that we show him true respect.
So today I’d like to leave you all with a few lines from one of my favourite MJ songs...
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could’ve been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make that change!”
Anti-clockwise from top right: The infamous tong'er dokan, Shammu Bhai & his lovely wife Zarah (we'd just landed at Ctg airport), sound check, Laila & moi, singing ABBA!, the performing troupe! - Photo credits my cell phone & Rahul's cam
Like any other day
But destined to be different
Unaware
Unexpecting
Going through all those
Stupid, meaningless gestures
Making all those
Vapid, worthless comments
Running after
One’s so-called ‘goals’ in life
Entrapments
Of the ‘enlightened’ civilization
And then without warning
All the color
All the music
Is sucked out of your life
Leaving nothing
But blinding blackness
Slow motion
Lost
With no destination
This is how it felt
This is how it feels
When someone you cherish
Leaves you forever
This is how it will feel
For someone else
Who cherishes me
To see me leave
One day
Like any other day
But destined to be different
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