Review: RC cola live and louder concert

Amidst the chaos reigning over the city in recent times, the sunny afternoon of 11th February witnessed RC Cola Live and Louder, an open-air concert held at the ISD premises. Organized by Mehrab Al Shaheen and Omair Ahmed and jointly sponsored by HSBC and RC Cola, this fund-raising event for cancer patients, saw the avid music lovers of Dhaka turning up at the venue to show their support to our underground music and to the great cause behind the concert.

The afternoon started off with the performance of Drafted playing 'Animal Instinct', 'Seven Nation Army' and ending with 'Zombie', another popular number, to a rather small audience. Nazish's silky vocals, the overall confidence displayed by this young band as far as co-ordination was concerned and Yaman's drumming were certainly commendable. Next up on stage was Soothsayer, whose performance started off with Seether's 'Fine Again', followed by their own composition 'Hotta Kore Amae', 12 Stones' 'Broken' and Smile Empty Soul's 'Bottom of a Bottle'. Majed, the vocalist did a better job with the second song, appearing to be more comfortable with their own composition.
Baahsznought was third on stage, boldly experimenting with the punk-rock genre. They played The Ramones' 'Blitzkrieg Bop' and 'American Idiot'_ an interesting song list though the vocals need some obvious work and there were a few hiccups initially regarding the sound system. CCCP was next performing 'Know Your Enemy' and 'Bondi'. They sounded better than the last time I heard them_ vocalist Mufrad having gained more experience since, while Tushar's drumming was in sync with the rest of the band. CNG arrived on stage with confidence and were not disappointed by the crowd head banging in tune with their performance of Alkaline Trio's 'Radio'.

The vocalist Tarab was quite good and bassist Turaj wasn't bad himself_ as they followed it up with two of their self compositions, 'Bastobota' and 'Chinta'. By the time Bivishika was on stage, a bigger crowd had gathered. They started off with their track from Lokayot, 'Bhobishhot', followed by Linkin Park's 'Crawling', 'Mohakal', their track from the album Din Bodol and rounded it up with 'Toxicity'.

The first song was best complimented by Niloy's vocals and the band displayed a new found maturity as they gave the crowd a fluent performance.

Black took over the stage after them performing their popular numbers like '?', 'Kothay', 'Obhimaan', 'Amar Prithibi', 'Abinasshar', 'Prakritik' and receiving incredible support from their fans. The sound system fell a bit short during their performance but nevertheless it gave little chance to the audience to complain.

Stentorian chose a popular song list consisting of 'Bhoy', 'Breaking the Law', their song from Lokayot, a Pink Floyd number and Odrissho Juddho. The crowd roared and cheered as the band ruled the stage with an energetic performance. Before the next band came up, there was a short and splendid fire-spinning display, eagerly appreciated by the crowd.

Delude was next with 'Seven Nation Army', 'Megalomaniac', 'All my Life', 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', their own track and 'Jeremy'.

The band's powerful vocals, acute guitar works and precise drumming produced a satisfying combined output, getting itself well-deserved votes from the fans. ]Fulbanu's Revenge dominated the stage next with their very own 'Ghash', followed by 311's 'Love Song', their self-composed 'Felicity', wrapped up by 'Chopsuey'. Sung with a contagious energy radiating from vocalist Sakib, like always, FBR forged that connection with the audience that makes their performance truly entertaining.

Birodh was the last band to come on stage, performing 'Wikerman', 'Why', 'Fear of the Dark' and 'Protikkha'. Backed by Ishtiaq's sturdy vocals, the swift guitar works of Adnan and Nayeem's impressively solid bass in 'Why'_ the band left the stage with all due respect from its fans.

Overall, the organisers managed to give the audience a good, all-round concert. The proceeds from this great event will be donated to Ahsania Mission Caner Hospital. Though emphasizing on a better sound system in the future concerts would be a good point, altogether, this fund-raising event proved to be great in its dual purpose: promoting charity and entertainment.

By Maliha Bassam

An Art Competition on birds organized by BANDHU

An art competition on "Bird" among children was organized by BANDHU on Friday, 4th February, 2005. The competition was inaugurated by the Director of Charukala Institute Mr. Abdus Satter, present in the program as chief guest and special guests were professor Anwarul Islam and bird lover Enam Ul Haque .

Bird observer Enam Ul Haque said," Know and learn the birds, then draw them". The chief guest said, "We have to know about the world of birds, birds are to be loved, not to be caged. Birds are to fly in their own environment. Birds like weaver-bird(Babui) and tailor-bird(Tuntuni) themselves are very big artists."

We have to be aware to save all kinds of local birds including migratory birds to make our life more beautiful and healthy. "Bird" the main topic of this art competition to build an awareness among children.

There were a total of 60 competitors divided in two sections. Section Ka 4 included entrants up to 10 years of age and section Kha from 11 to 16 years of age. A total of 20 prizes were given from both the sections. Also present in the program were the executive members of BANDHU, Anisur Rahman, Uday Shankar Chaki, Sagar Sarker Sajal, Fahdzzaman Rumi and Najiya Ahmed Sarmi.

By Samsul Arefin Sadi & Uday Shankar Chaki

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me...

There's an old cliché: 'Trust is like a fragile crystal vase, handle it with care'. Believe it or not, trust is something that plays a vital role in and relationship, especially being more significant in romantic ones. To make a relationship work out for the best, you should be able to trust your guy, and know that your guy trusts you unconditionally. Confused about what to do if things aren't peach shaped? Read on…

There are times when your guy simply won't trust you. You might be the most virtuous and faithful girlfriend in the world, but his mind is constantly comparing you to some girl in his past, who has cheated on him. My advice, in this case would be to break up.

Let's face it: if a guy doesn't trust you enough, maybe he doesn't deserve you at all. Guys who are jealous without reason and insist on obsessing about past injuries are like kids who need non-stop reassurance and ego boosting. Remember, if he's really suspicious, he could get violent, critical and even start keeping tabs on your every move. Who wants to be treated like this? Surely no one.

However, if you think that what you have with your partner is special, and that you should at least try and give it another shot, this is what you should try: talk to him.

Tell him you understand his feelings, but that all girls are not the same. Recall and confide to him the secrets of your past relationships, especially the one's where someone you loved ended up stabbing you in the back as well. Let him realize that since you have also been in his position, you are fully aware of his feelings, and thus would never even DREAM of hurting him in this manner.

However, lets not forget that there are two sides to every feather. It is equally probable that you're the jealous cat in your relationship, constantly bugging him about his whereabouts, and doing some snooping around on your own to find what he's been up to.

My advice: Don't. Firstly, it's unhealthy. Secondly, it's demeaning. I believe in honesty as well as trust in a relationship. Make a deal with your partner that you'll never keep secrets from each other, no matter how big or small. Explicitly trust everything that he tells you, unless you find good reason to believe that he's actually being unfaithful, or cheating around on you.

However, if you ever DO find solid evidence of any such thing, it'd be best for you especially to pack your emotional bags and walk away from the relationship, without a backward glance. Just tell yourself that he doesn't know what he's losing, and that he never did deserve a wonderful girl like you anyway.

Wait a second. Let's also consider another possible fact that might emerge. What if instead of your boyfriend, you're the one who's fooling around, and he's the one who's been a perfect Romeo? Suddenly the guy sitting next to you in class looks undeniably attractive, the unknown chat friend of ours seems like the most interesting person on earth, even the actor on TV seems perfect for you.

This is a clear of indication of one thing: you aren't satisfied in your present relationship. Now that you have made this interesting revelation, take a moment to consider its cause, and then proceed to rectify it. Remember, it takes two to tango, and it also takes two to make a relationship work.

By Jennifer Ashraf (Kashmi)