Sorry for the length in advance, but I have to get this off my chest because this makes me upset, disheartened and confused. It’s upsetting because its a shame what happened at the ICC T20 opening ceremony in Bangladesh a couple of days ago, and I’m confused because there are more stories untold than told. If you’re catching up, this is the International Cricket Council Twenty20 World Cup, hosted by Bangladesh in 2014, for which the opening ceremony performances were organized by Grey Dhaka. With a 3-million dollars event budget, they’ve invited AKON (US), A.R. Rahman (IN), Miles (BD), LRB (BD), Souls (BD), Arnob (BD), Runa Laila (BD), Sabina Yasmin (BD), Kumar Biswajit (BD) and many other well-established artists and performers. Now this is an international event, so of course there’ll be international artists (that makes sense); BUT what doesn’t make sense is the appalling lack of respect shown to artists from Bangladesh. If this is true (according to Arif R Hossain) and Bangladeshi artists weren’t allowed to patch into the main sound system, weren’t allowed to rehearse, weren’t allowed to use the main green-screen, weren’t given proper comm, the fact that Miles weren’t allowed to perform, then it’s disgusting the level of incompetency and lack of respect shown by the organizers and some others (in fact, if I were one of the artists, hell with money, I would have left). But you know what I don’t get, what I really don’t get? It’s the 40,000 some thousand Bangladeshi audience sitting in silence while a legendary band performs — hurtful enough for Ayub Bachchu (LRB) to sarcastically tell the audience to “thank you for patiently listening to Bangla songs” and to save their claps for the foreigners.” (I wonder if this has anything to do with them leaving BAMBA yesterday.) So what the hell is going on? I agree with Bassbaba - Sumon; It’s NOT A.R. Rahman’s fault, it’s NOT Akon’s fault… the fault is within our own industry. I expect a certain level negative stereotype from countries outside of Bangladesh, and I know that for a fact cause I live abroad and I hear things (via negative media), but I would never expect hypocrisy from our own people. From lack of institutional support to lack of public support, it seems to me that we have lost UNITY and PRIDE. In my last trip, I learned that more and more the young generation in BD anticipates releases out of Bollywood and Kolkata more than their own land. Why is that, and can you help me change that please? And then the Prime Minister says “I seek cooperation of all, including the youth community, to further brighten the country’s image by making the T20 World Cup a grand success,” and yes I agree! So then my request to the organizers is to ACTUALLY SHOW the positive sides of the country by hosting the event with a Bangladesh-centric theme and not giving up creative control to an outsourced co-organizer. The youth doesn’t deserve to witness ass-kissing. I don’t usually get socio-political issues involved in my posts but it’s relevant, and I’m gonna. There seems to be a rising tension between Bangladesh and India (beyond the entertainment industry), and I understand that as a nation, Bangladesh is still getting over 1971 (independence war with Pakistan), but please don’t ever equate and merge the two. The gravity of the war was very different from the battles that exists today; the latter can help or bring more hate and damage to our progression, so choose those battles carefully. Of course there are scars and of course there are side-effects, but we’re not living 43 years ago either. Contribute to the future, and try not to judge a book by a few tainted pages. I don’t know if its in our nature to undermine ourselves with self-destructive actions, but for now the immediate battles exists within our own backyard. One thing I know for damn sure is that we need to bring pride and unity back in our entertainment industry (and a LOT of people are trying). For now, especially my fellow artists, produce quality work!!! Don’t succumb to fast-food music. Speak up and promote positivism and respect each other rather than sabotaging, undermining and worsening the already-suffering industry… Don’t back down from REAL issues, but don’t also step all over your own people while standing your ground.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:42:21 +0000
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