Young Talent

No fairytale tonight

Shudeep Ariquzzaman

Music occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of Bangalis. So when a group of young musicians wish to express their views on contemporary society, their favourite pass time seemed the perfect medium to do so. They were right. The song 'Aj raate kono rupkotha nei', played on Radio Foorti has touched thousands of music lovers all over the country and was voted by listeners as the 'Airtel Radio Foorti Youngster of the Month', proving that 'Old School' is about to embark on a journey to the halls of fame. The platform provided by Airtel Bangladesh ensured that the band's songs reach a wide range of audience and receive immediate mass popularity.

So why does a bunch of young artists call themselves Old School? Nobody knows and they will not tell, at least not yet. Old School is yet to release their album, and they plan to do it this February. Only then shall we know the secret behind the name Old School.

The album is not just a collection of random songs made by the band. All the songs have a theme that mainly ridicules the society's mechanised and uncaring lifestyle. Aj raate kono rupkotha nei translates into 'there is no fairytale tonight'. It is a song that vividly describes the golden childhood when our parents read us fairy tales and bed time stories before tucking us in. This was a time when we actually loved our parents. But as we grow, we do not care for our beloved parents as much as we used to in our younger days. Nowadays we return home late at night and then lock ourselves in our room, hardly enquiring about our family members who have dedicated their lives for our welfare and who still love us as they did when we were little kids eagerly waiting for the bedtime fairytales. As the song says, there is going to be no fairytale tonight.

Members of Old school have stated that all the other songs of their album are based on similar themes that describe our lives in contemporary society. Old school has come up with another wonderful theme with a song called 'Bango' that translates into ridicule. The song ridicules our lives, the lives of professionals like us who have sold our souls to the commercial world for money. In our younger days, we had grand visions on improving the lives of the people in our society. We gave fiery speeches and shared radical ideas on how to help serve society. But as we grow up, we quickly abandon our ideals because as all of us know, ideals are obstacles to climbing the ladder of financial success. So we choose the easy way out - - we sacrifice our ideals and sell our souls. Former idealists and visionaries spend endless hours brainstorming on how to market products that they know are unnecessary. Then we draw up brilliant marketing campaigns designed to deceive the people in complete contradiction to the ideals that we thought we would never sacrifice.

Old School's album shall be released in an unconventional method - - the whole album shall be presented in a live show in the form of a music video, that shall be acted out in front of the audience. It is going to be something akin to a musical play and shall play the songs 'Aj raate kono rupkotha nei' and 'Bango' among others. All these songs shall together make up the musical album. Starring in it will be Bangladesh's first superhero and … that is all that should be said at this moment.

With some very novel ideas and brilliant songs based on brilliant themes that reflect the reality of modern day life, Old School has the potential to go very far. As they were elected as the 'Airtel Radio Foorti Artiste of the month', their songs have reached a wide audience and they will only get more popular with time.