Exclusive! Shayan Chowdhury Arnob: I look forward to learning from Ustad Rashid Khan

Three more songs are yet to be released and the first season of Coke Studio Bangla has already started ranking second after its Pakistan chapter. Curator and music producer Shayan Chowdhury Arnob has already started working on the second season. After the success of the first season with Momtaz Begum, Dilshad Nahar Kona, Mizan Rahman, Bappa Mazumdar, Samina Chowdhury, Masha Islam, Animesh Roy, Sunidhi Nayak, Soumyadeep Murshidabadi, Madhumanti Bagchi, Pantho Kanai, Ripon Kumar Sarkar, Rubayat Rehman and many others, the second season promises more collaborations of singers from West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Arnob, who has a crossborder fan following, says that they want to bring in more musicians on board. “From the beginning, we aimed to bring in all kinds of musicians. In the first season, we have a blend of folk, rap, Indian classical, jazz and everything possible. I want to bring all the sounds together, and give the musicians the freedom to make music. And that’s how we choose the songs. In the second season also, we asked everyone to submit their songs and music.” he says. 

As per reports, Ustad Rashid Khan will be performing in the second season of Coke Studio Bangla. He was scheduled to be part of season one. However, it was the pandemic that interrupted the process. “I am already in touch with Ustadji. With him, we will need time. We will have to give him his space so that he could bring out his music. We will have a lot to learn from him,” Arnob tells us. 

The musician also explains how every musician in the project has a deep understanding of music. “While some are students of music and some have been deeply rooted to their songs. Animes Roy, who sang Nasek Nasek is a student of music. So is Kaniz Khandkar Mitu, who sang Shob Loke Koye. They are well educated and knowledgeable about the technology. Whatever training was needed, they had that,” says a proud Arnob. 

Talking about his favourite, he says he has attachments to each song. “We did not take any shortcuts. We changed the entire song, Shob Loke Koye after it was recorded and rearranged it with the introduction of Kabir. At that point, Soumyadeep Murshidabadi joined us,” said Arnob, adding, “We felt that the first recording was too easy. We wanted to invest further to achieve our goals.”

Arnob confesses that he had little idea that season one would get such huge popularity. “I have no idea what happened and how it happened. I remember, we organised a concert and I saw young people waiting in the rain for five-six to listen to our music. We wanted to postpone the event due to the rains but no one got back. It only shows how starved our younger generation was for good music,” says Arnob. 

The spokesperson of the company Arnab Roy says that the response has exceeded their expectations. “We knew that there was potential and we just tapped into it. This response is overwhelming. There will be no Coke Studio for any geographic location. The Bengali musicians from India and Bangladesh will get this platform dedicated to the,” he says.