The Big Mac Maqsoodul Haque

FACE 2 FACE

The Big Mac

Maqsoodul Haque discloses to Faizul Khan Tanim some of the secrets behind his music

We call him the Big Mac of Bangladesh’s music industry...the tall, bespectacled man with a great sense of humour, which some might say is sarcasm but that’s because they don’t understand him, is prone to emotional outbursts, and one of the greatest lyricists of our generation. And his graceful voice is a testament to many immortal hit songs of Bangla pop and rock.

When and why did you start playing music and how has it affected your life?

I think I was born with music; that's how early it was. But what was important was convincing my family that I want to do music, which was difficult because there were no musicians in seven generations. I recall, it was after the Liberation war, the situation was not good in the city, the drug scene had taken hold and some of the musicians began abusing substances; the news got around and so my father thought it was a bit too much. But, he told me as long as I graduated, music could be an option. As a musician, there have been incidences. I was studying in Dhaka University and I had an exam on the first of January, 1981, at 7:00 am. Of course, I was playing with the band on New Year’s night. I came home at 4 am, slept till 6 and with the wildest hangover I surprisingly managed to sit for the exam on time and to my astonishment, that was the only paper I got first-class marks in!

Name a few of the musicians that you admire.

I cannot name any one musician, rather, I keep my eyes and ears open to all types of tunes. I grew up with a lot of fantastic music but unlike others, The Beatles to me were a very mediocre band. In terms of melody and expression, I think it starts with Cliff Richard, Rolling Stones, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, and during the War of Liberation there was the epic Concert for Bangladesh, which was huge for us. We spent days listening to all of the four LPs. Also, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and then funk music. I admired KC and the Sunshine Band, James Brown, Santana, the Eagles were great, America and then Bob Marley came in a big way. I moved on to jazz with Chuck Man Joni, Steely Dan, Scott Heron and more.

Your fondest musical memory.

It is very easy to make people laugh and dance but very difficult to make them cry. When it did happen I was truly overwhelmed. We were in Jadavpur University in Kolkata, which was the first trip for the band Dhaka. What was interesting was that Feedback was very big at the time and people were eager to see what the new line-up and I would do on stage. When I sang ‘Rai Jago’ from Dhaka's debut album, a fusion of a kirtan, the lighting guys did something that transformed the atmosphere and turned the stage to resemble a temple. Rubayet was playing lead guitar, the late Travis Jenkins on saxophone and they just played their solos for ages. When the song ended, the smoke made everything hazy, and there was pin drop silence...not a sound, no clapping at all. It was really strange. I stepped out so I could see the front row; hundreds of people stood there weeping with emotion. They said, “Dada kadiye gelen amader. Eii Rai Jago gaan diye toh er agey keu kadate pareni.”

Playing live on stage has its pros and cons. How do you deal with ‘technical glitches’ when you are on stage?

I don't make a big deal about playing live. You can never tell how a show will turn out; it can go two ways: good rehearsals but bad show or no rehearsals but a fantastic gig. The idea is to go on stage; with the audiences’ permission you start singing. And the best way to handle mistakes on stage is to laugh it off. If it's a major fumble, be honest with the audience, apologise and carry on.

Do you have any advice for aspiring musicians?

I am not good with giving advice. Whatever the younger generation of musicians are doing, they are doing well, but I will request artistes to have less attitude...people don’t care for attitude, they only want the music. If your body language is wrong you’ll alienate the audience, and then it won’t matter how good you are; your chances of survival are less.

http://www.theindependentdigital.com/index.php?opt=view&page=25&date=2011-05-30