James-The musical artist who undoubtedly doesn’t need any introduction, the name itself portrays the image of an artist with swerve energy level, racy appearance, a magnetic crowd-puller ,who leaves the audience absolutely spellbound with his highly expressive singing pattern & emotive voice modulation. Cognized popularly as the "Guru" ,he is one of those solo artists of mainstream music of Bangladesh who have taken the arena of Bangladesh music by storm, setting a benchmark for upcoming music learners- by creating a blend between rock and psychedelic blues progression ,raising psychedelic rock to a new height in the musical platform of the country. With his album "Jail theke bolchi" released in 1994, he successfully delineated to be one of the most versatile iconic musician. He started off as lead-singer and vocalist of "Feelings" and later formed "Nagarbaul" with his consistent eccentric style - comprising groovy rock vocals, pessimistic lyrics & nifty thrumming.
The solo music projects of James captured the thriving young generation & mesmerized his huge fan-base with a blow; along with his unparalleled beatz, deviation from prototypic tunes, extremely expressive lyrics rooted deep with potpourri of emotions- the Guru created a musical charisma that captured the headlines of music media in no time. James not only maintained the sustained craze of the music-lovers of the country, but also has set his step outside the national borders, more precisely at the Indian musical industry, heightening his musical performance even more. Having the potential to cater a diverging array of musical tastes, James, with his grave voice and inerrant musical notes rocked and regaled the audiences there as well. He made a robust intro in the Indian music industry with the song "Bheegi Bheegi" from Gangster, which was inspired from his popular Bengali number "Prithibi". James continued as a playback singer with "Woh Lamhe", his soundtracks include Gangster (2006);Woh Lamhe (2006);Life in a.. Metro (2007), "Rishtey", "Rishtey Revisited" (DJ Nikhil Chinappa & DJ Naved) . Hence the city-bard (Nagarbaul), did not let his talents to regress, he rather made it rise to the peak of musical spectrum.
With an intention to have a precise idea about his upcoming works & also for a little tete-a-tete, Zannatul Lamea visits James on a windy evening of February, as the media correspondent from Amadergaan.com:
AG : After the successful release of your latest album titled "Toofan" , what are your upcoming plans ? Are you intending to do any new musical projects home or abroad?
James: Well, I am just planning to work on a band album here, its not yet in the making-just a stray thought. But yes, I am about to work with Sony at India, they are intending to release an album of mine, with Hindi numbers mostly, maybe they will include some Bengali songs in there also. I am concentrating more on this album, after that maybe I will start playback singing in Hindi films by April again. Plus, I am also doing some live music shows in India.
AG: You have worked with proficiency both with Bangladesh and Indian music. How different or how similar is it from the other?
James: Well, actually there is no major difference. It’s just the difference in perception & taste. The audiences can sort the difference more accurately. No two person have same opinion on music, perceptions or choices can’t really be judged on any common parameter.
AG: How does it feel to work outside your home country? Is it challenging?
James : It sure is. Bangladesh is my comfortable zone. I work independently here, with my music and compositions. At India, its challenging in the sense that its giving me a new platform, its more like experimenting with their diverse genres of music; working at a new place with new peoples, reflexively poses challenge in front of you. But in spite of that, I enjoy working there too, its fun working with challenges! Precisely speaking- I enjoy working at India, & I love working in Bangladesh :)
AG: Is there anything you think could add a new level to the music industry of our country?
James : I don't think any alteration is required, our music industry is flourishing, we have promising musicians and the music scenario has firm roots grounded with our culture & heritage. But yes, I think that at present the number of acoustic instrument players are reducing; as for example now-a-days we don’t find many violin players you see.
AG : What do you think about the present music scenario of Bangladesh?
James: Surely the trends have changed. The major drawback that has set in now is piracy. Although, true music lovers would always thrive for original music, smooth sound quality-still a fraction of music industry is affected by piracy. I think a major reason behind this is lack of proper marketing, making music easily accessible to those who want it ; when a new album is launched, if its not marketed properly, the reach decreases substantially. And hence, the audience then opts to pursue it by other means. Also, the trends have changed now, when we were at our teens, we would buy an entire album-sometimes even for the nice illustration of our favorite artists on the covers; the present generation has discovered "mobile music" , they carry their favorite music everywhere, in mp3 players, I-pods, cell-phones-we see the music lovers trotting away here & there with earplugs in. Maybe that’s why the demand of an album as a whole has deteriorated. Everything is getting virtual!
But I think its being balanced. Because, see the trends have changed, but the demand is absolutely unchanged. I would say the demand for music is much more now. The present crowd throngs every concert venue with frenzy response. A new drift is emerging, music is not only meant for CD production now- a considerable number of event management is taking place due to music as well. Also, music is also becoming a part and parcel of the media channels. Music is not only audible now; growing demand is there for visual music. The audiences not only want to hear music, they also wants to see it. It’s taking a whole new form!
Hence that was all from the "Guru”, who has not only swept the music lovers off their feet by his sensational music, but also have relentlessly contributed his music for charitable and motivational purposes as well. Brandishing us with his unique music, the music patriot thus created an epitome musical character-to be followed, to be cherished
