James is Going over the boundary

James, the vocal of the renowned band ‘Nagar Baul’ is now not only a national superstar of our country but also an international asset in the music market representing the pride of Bangladesh. James, the vocal of the renowned band ‘Nagar Baul’ is now not only a national superstar of our country but also an international asset in the music market representing the pride of Bangladesh. His voice sounds like may be the joy of a strayed pedestrian is following him and inspiring him to sing this way. Besides his mesmerizing voice is also going beyond the boundary of our country and exerting a pull on the audience of greater India and Europe when he started to sing in another popular language ‘Hindi’. These achievements undoubtedly took our culture one step ahead to the global world… and so “Stardom” has tried to bring the successful steps of this unique personality in the music arena to the readers in this issue.

For a long time, there was an absence of a successful celebrity who could uphold the pride of country in the international music market but finally the hysterical achievement of James had fulfilled this gap.

His appearance is very unique; such as his long curled hair, his stubble, angry eyes, wearing Panjabi and Jeans with a high boot for most of the time and most importantly a silver guitar on the shoulder made some difference in this conventional lifestyle. Not only his extraordinary outfit but also his appealing vocal and tunes were able to spellbind the Indian listeners as well. James has stepped forward with his international singing career by working with a renowned Indian music director ‘Preetom’. In India named “Metro” and they had already performed in some place of Calcutta. This is the first time that any of our musicians got such response. The Hindi songs performed by James were really so exhilarating that all over the India along with our country started raving with the tunes.

His full name is Farooq Mahfuz Anam. The day when this mastermind born in Borohatti village of Nougaon Jilla, the nature obtained a new gemstone. Though he was born in Nougaon, but he has brought up near the Sea of Chittagong. Did anybody of that village know that this kid is not just a typical human being but someday this whiz kid would be an international rock star? But his mom (Jahanara Khatun) and dad (Mozammel Haque) never wanted him to be a musician and a rock singer because previously nobody of their family was involved in this music arena. They wanted their child to be a big doctor or an engineer. But is it literally possible to motivate a kid into study who used to be obstinate about guitar and singing? There were so many little musical bands at that time. So James used to go to few of their rehearsals by bunking his schools just to see them playing and learn something from there. He bought his first Hawai Guitar by the savings from Tiffin expenses of school when he was in class eight. Thus his journey began. He started concentrating on the guitar playing so much that he could not focus on any other things anymore. But his parents were not at all appreciating his activities. So the devoted soul to music left the house. Though his parents tried to make him understand for so many times but they failed. Just like a homeless, he started to roam around here and there but his dedicated practice of guitar and singing was going on. Finally in the era of 80s, he was able to find some other music fanatics and formed a band with them which was called “Feelings”. They did some successful stage shows for which they also got some good offers to perform in the capital ‘Dhaka’. They came to Dhaka and gradually they became very popular. Afterward they released their debut album with their self title. In 1995, they launched their second album “Nogorbaul” from the record level “Soundtech”. In 1996, James released his first Solo album “Dookhini Dookkho Koro na” from the same record level. Step by step his fame started scattering all over the country. For his style of performance and outfit, his fans and listeners named him as the second.

‘Guru’ of Bangladeshi music. He brought a new dimension to the modern music at that time. He was also named as ‘Nogorbaul’ to some of the audiences. In 1998, they changed the name of the band for some unavoidable reasons and formed a set up with Asad, Jewel, Babu and Funty which was named as ‘Nogorbaul’. In 2001, the band ‘Nogorbaul’ launched their debut album “Doostu Chheler Dol” and his solo career was also moving forward at a noticeable pace. Day by day their popularity started hitting the highest point. Every year he started releasing his different solo albums and also at least 10 songs in the compiled albums a year on an average. Beside this, his outstanding stage performance in and outside the country were also going on. Now he is performing not only inside the map of the country but he has also reached the boundary of Mumbai Filmdom “Bollywood”. Nobody knows how many miles his talents will take him, how many hills he will climb with his success.

This is true that James has a different and unique style singing. He says, “I sing from my heart and I think each and every artist should have his/her own style. Such as when somebody listens to ‘Rabindra Songeet’ he can easily recognize the type of the song. Similarly if somebody reads out a poem of ‘Jibanananda Das’ then it can be easily distinguished. Though I never consider myself on that high scale like the above legend personnel but I think my practice for a long time has created at least a different tone which can be distinguished easily and only the time knows that how long this tone is going to arouse people’s mind.”

James is still continuing his research on his songs. That is why he has also created his own studio whose name is ‘Koler Gaan’. In this regard, he suggested, “Whoever take the music as profession should have his/her own workstation because thus one can get sufficient time for the experiments. I don’t have any tension of time….. Just going to complete one composition and the time is up…… these hassles are not there in the personal studio. So I have my own Koler Gaan.”

James added regarding the Mumbai experience, “it was a great experience for me to work there and I am really amazed to see their working environment. Initially I was a bit confused after getting the offer whether I will able to sing in new language or not because I did not know Hindi by that time. But they wrote the song in Bangla so I did not face that much of problems. One thing has really astonished me and that is their professionalism which made them perfect and very advanced.” Do you want to work in Mumbai anymore? James answered to this question, “Definitely I want to work with them and they are also offering me as a regular play-back singer, but it does not mean I am going to settle down there. Because I have the same feelings about my own country like others. Even if I want to stay there, the affection for my own land will pull me back.” James has visited so many places in India but unfortunately he found that our music and songs are at all being distributed there. There is a huge demand of good music but they do not have any idea that Bangladesh has so many dormant talents. In this regard, he mentioned, “I feel bad when I see that we have the skill and they have the demand but we are unable to reach the demand. If our audio companies can get tagged with their market our music will flourish more and more, even they will start getting unimaginable profit.”

His eleventh solo album named “Kaljamuna” has got released in last Eid-ul-Fitre. As usually this album was another mega hit. In fact starting the album with Feelings ”Station Road” to the solo “Toofan”, his songs carried an extraordinary meaning to the listeners. An attachment with some powerful and unique lyricists like ‘Marjook Russel’, ‘Deeholobhi’, ‘Bappi Khan’, ‘Bishu Shikdar’ helped him to understand the inner feelings of the listeners and fans. Nowadays James is busy with all the national and international live concerts. On the coming March, he is going abroad for another tour performance.

What should be the approach for the upcoming bands to reach the international market? James replied, “Their first task is to create some songs which get maximum popularity in the local market. Thus they will cross the boundary anyway. Besides if somebody has extreme talents, nobody can stop him/her from reaching the international market.” He added, “A singer needs practice, struggle, and dedication to become a superstar. And to maintain this star value, all one needs to do is practice, practice and practice….”

We highly hope that this super blaster singer will keep on going beyond the map and achieve more and more prides for our country.