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.

Feel upset? Writing it down helps you to calm down, scientists say

Times: Writing about a distressing or upsetting experience can help to reduce stress by changing the way the brain deals with negative emotions, new research suggests. The act of putting feelings into words is often cathartic because it helps the brain to control regions where emotions such as fear and disgust are processed, scientists have discovered.

The findings, from a research team led by Matthew Lieberman, of the University of California, Los Angeles, suggest that one of the main motivations for writing and verbal expression, from keeping a diary to composing poetry, is the way such activity brings peace of mind and relieves stress.

“I think that the benefits of putting feelings into words is one of the indirect motivations for many of the words that get written,” Dr Lieberman told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago. “When people sit down to write they may not know exactly why, but there seems to be this benefit.”

The research could also be medically useful, as it suggests that writing therapy could help people suffering from psychological conditions such as social anxiety disorder, phobias or post-traumatic stress.

“We do think it has clinical implications,” Dr Lieberman said. “We’ve done some work looking at complementing an exposure therapy, for people who are high in spider fear. If you have people actually expressing their negative responses in words while they’re being exposed, you see greater attenuation over time.”

The brain’s catharsis centre is a region called the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which lies next to the right temple. When this is activated, it suppresses activity in the amygdala, an almond-shaped part of the brain’s deep-lying limbic system, which processes negative emotions such as fear.

Brain scans using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have shown that the act of writing about distressing experiences, or even thinking about expressing them in words, can activate the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which then controls these negative feelings.

“The question I get interested in is why it seems to help people emotionally when they put feelings into words, whether it’s in therapy, writing a diary or journal, or poetry,” Dr Lieberman said. “Our hypothesis is this is an unintentional form of emotion regulation. The way we’ve approached this is by looking at the brain, because if you ask people they don’t think that putting feelings into words serves much of a regulatory function. But when you look at the brain it looks a whole lot like emotion regulation is going on when people put emotions into words.

“We see this pattern again and again. What it boils down to is the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which seems to be involved in all different forms of self-control and self-regulation. It appears that if you get this region activated, even if you’re not trying to get it activated, it still has regulatory consequences. Putting feelings into words is one of the things that turns this region on, and therefore has regulatory benefits.

“The more that region is activated, the less activity you see in limbic regions that are involved in emotional processing, so you’ll see less activity in the amygdala than you would otherwise see to these emotional images. There seems to be a see-saw effect. The more prefrontal activation you see the less the amygdala responds.”

The researchers have yet to conduct experiments on people who keep diaries, but Dr Lieberman said that this was likely to be another way in which people activate the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and thus control their negative thoughts.

“It’s certainly one of the inspirations,” he said. “I think that diaries probably serve as a form of daily regulation for those individuals. I would caution, though, that it probably depends on the way in which you write about these feelings. Our suspicion is that it’s probably more effective to the extent you use more abstract language, rather than truly vivid emotional language that might be reactivating the negative experience.

“We’re also working with a psychologist to look at social anxiety disorder, to see if cognitive behavioural therapy and acceptance-based therapy leads to changes in which they recruit this regulatory region when they respond to threatening situations.”

2,567 titles hit Ekushey book fair so far

Collections of poems dominate new arrivals

Some 2,567 new titles hit Ekushey book fair till Monday with only five days left for end of the month-long event being held on the Bangla Academy premises.

Collections of poems topped the list of new books followed by novels, while four complete works and a dictionary on different religious faiths also hit the fair till date.

According to the statistics provided by the information centre of the fair, the total number of new titles so far released in the fair is 2,341.

A total of 549 books of poems, 443 novels and 284 story books have arrived in the first three weeks of the fair. Some 185 books for children also arrived during the period.

Besides, 181 collections of essays, 88 rhymes, 79 biographies, 67 research books, 65 books on liberation war, 59 titles on science, 46 travelogues, 45 titles on politics, 37 titles on history, 35 on translation, 27 on satire, 24 on medical science and 23 on religion also were among the list of new arrivals.

Thirteen new books on science fiction and on computer, 12 books on drama and dramatics are also available at the fair.

The fair witnessed low turn-out of visitors on Monday. Arrival of new books also decreased on the day as most of the publishers have already brought their books.

‘We have brought all the new titles that were said to be published for this year’s fair,’ Rajib Noor, executive publisher of Pathsutro, told New Age.

At least 80 new titles hit the fair on the day, while the information centre reported arrival of 74 titles including 17 books of poems, 13 novels, 12 story books and six books for children.

Seventeen new titles were launched at the fair venue on the 23rd day of the fair.

Economist and writer Quazi Khaliquzzaman Elias, poet Mahadev Saha, researcher Asad-ullah-Al-Hossain, rhymester Abu Saleh and actor Jayanta Chattopaddhyai, among others, attended book launching ceremonies.

The stall of Best Way Foundation continued to flout fair rules as it is stilling books without having any signboard.

A cultural function was held at the fair venue in the evening as part of the Bangla Academy’s regular programme.

Homage to Language Movement martyrs in Narail

It was a spectacular sight as 50,000 candles, shaped in Bangla alphabets, were lit in memory of Language Movement martyrs at Narail Government Victoria College on February 21.

Ekushey Udjapan Parishad organised the programme. Language Movement veteran, Rizia Khatun inaugurated the ceremony. A discussion and cultural programme were also held. Advocate Sohrab Biswas, mayor of Narail Municipality; cultural personality Kochi Khondakar; advocate Omar Faruk, secretary of Ekushey Udjapan Parishad; Malay Kundu, convenor of Sammilita Sanstrik Jote and Sharful Alam Litu, commissioner of Narail Municipality, delivered speeches. Professor Munshi Hafizur Rahman presided over the discussion.

Artistes of Sammilita Sanskritik Jote, Narail also rendered folk songs and recited poetry. People in thousands greatly enjoyed the programme. Rtv aired the programme live.