New face on the block - Nobonita Chowdhury

New face on the block

Nobonita Chowdhury is yet another upcoming artiste whose solo album of Lalon songs, arranged by Ayub Bachhu, will hit the market by June this year from Gaanchil record label. In this interview, she talks to Faizul Khan Tanim about how she started her musical journey and the serenity she derives from Lalon geeti

New Age (NA): How did you get in to music and why did you choose Lalon as your canvas or your field of work?

Nobonita: I started taking music lessons from when I was three and half years old. My parents never asked me or my older sister whether we wanted to learn or not; they wanted their children to sing, and so we started singing as soon as we started to talk. My first music teacher was Krishnakanta Acharya, who gave me the initial lessons in music. Then I started taking only Rabindra Sangeet lessons from Wahidul Huq when I was around eight or nine years old. When I first met him, he instantly became my friend, philosopher and guide of my life. I think bringing Wahid kaka in my life is one of my parents’ greatest gifts to me, for now I can understand that he was the person who actually taught me how to feel and realize each and every word of a song, believe them and then sing. It was his unique way of teaching which makes you feel you can express any emotion and cope up with all your feelings just by singing. I took direct lessons from Sadi Mohhamed, Salma Akbar, Nilotpol Saddhya and Mizanur Rahman Saint and continued singing only Rabindra Sangeet till 2004. One day, I got an iPod and while riding on a bus on a gloomy London day, I started listening to some Farida Parvin songs. When I heard her singing ‘Allah ke bujhe tomar oper leele’ and other Lalon songs, I felt like I had been reborn. I also spent several times in the Lalon akhra listening to bauls there and met other Lalon artistes while I was working for Ekushey Television. I realised that I need to start singing Lalon and that was the only way to regain peace in my mind. I believe that Lalon and Rabindra Sangeet are very similar in the sense that singing those songs is like talking to your soul. From then, I took lessons of Lalon Geeti from Akram Hossain Babla, who does research on Lalon songs and collects them. Journalism is now my profession and music is my passion. So it’s like I live on journalism and live for the music.

NA: Who are your musical influences? Quote few lines from your favourite song and tell us why you like it.

Nobonita: I always listen to Subinay Chakrabarty, Kanika Bandopaddhya, Kumar Gandharv, Kalim Sharafi , Farida Parvin, Abdul Alim and many others. Two of my favourite songs are: ‘Ache dukkho ache mrittu’ which is a Tagore song, and ‘Boro shonkote poria doyal barebare daki tomai’, a Lalon song. Sometimes I pray and meditate with these songs and communicate with God. Both the songs are amazing, and remind me again and again how insignificant we are, our life is.

NA: What was it like working with Ayub Bachchu (AB)? What did AB do to give the music his signature touch? Did he do the full musical arrangement or were you part of it as well?

Nobonita: Working with AB was a superb experience. The first day, when I went to his studio, he wanted to listen to me and see whether I am at all worthwhile to work with or not. He loved my singing from the very first instant and that is how I started recording for the album. I did not dare to suggest him anything to do with the musical arrangement...he did it fully. A few great guitar solo pieces are played by AB is in the album and I think his fans will find it very interesting. He used loads of acoustic music; it was very subtle, different and beautiful. Whenever I went to do my recording in the studio, Bachhu bhai used to tell me about the addictive power of Lalon songs. I sang one song for almost nine and half minutes and we just listened to that recording repeatedly and after a point we all agreed that, Lalon actually starts talking to your soul and you cannot just deny that. We loved rediscovering Lalon everyday while recording and I loved working with down to earth man.

NA: Did any other artist help you through your musical journey?

Nobonita: Yes, another amazing person I was lucky to meet was Naquib Khan from the band Renaissance. He saw me singing at a concert and came to me, an insignificant unknown artist, to tell that he loved my singing and he took the initiative to publish my album from Gaanchil record label. In my personal opinion, Nobonita is an emotional and soulful singer. Presently, she is pursuing her career as a producer of BBC Bangla Service in London. Unlike other singers, being a journalist, she tried to explore each word in her own sensational way and express them by singing. Let us take some time listening to her album when it gets out and see how much her singing triggers us to get to our roots.

*This article was first published in Extra GLITZ of the Daily New Age June 01 2007