Wireless sessions 2.2

November 8 was a good day for concert-goers and music lovers as Decagon café hosted the Wireless Sessions 2.2. The loudness of the evening still resonates within my very soul as I write this, hours later, and I can confidently say the same about most of the people there.

The show started a little late, but that was pretty much the only glitch. The first band was Alter Messiah, with covers of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Otherside) and Three Doors Down (Here Without You). This was the band's first gig, but they delivered well, and seemed to connect with the crowd. However, the last track their backup vocalist and lead guitarist did, a cover of Creep by Radiohead, left much to be desired from the crowd. The vocal was not up to part compared to the original, and the sound got a little distorted at parts.

Next up was Soulfire with a creative cover of 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'. It was a refreshing take on the song, and pleased the crowd. Turjo, or TJ as the crowd piped, from the band did a solo song, a System of A Down cover of Blink-182's 'Damnit'. It was highly popular, and a successful solo attempt.

After this came Germantown and stole the crowd! Starting with their cover of RHCP's Snow, to their own number Amra Shadhin, the band rocked the house! Literally. Hythum and Nabil delivered really well on guitars, but the vocal suffered a little (even forgetting and leaving out lines) during Sultans Of Swing, a Dire Straits cover.

Much to everyone's joy, Powersurge came next, promising to deliver 'the power' and keeping their promise. Starting with Metallica covers, to their own Mitther Agreshon and self-titled Powersurge, they managed to connect the most with the audience. Their closing number, a cover of Angel by Judas Priest however failed to deliver on the vocals.

Following them came '71; vocally speaking, the most original band of the evening. Their vocalist, Jawad has an amazing voice, and a good range. Every single number from them had a very distinct and fresh voice. The band, particularly Zulyad, was very popular with the audience. They ended with an amazing cover of The Cranberries' Zombie, sung by the beautiful Mehreen.

Mechanix followed, with the crowd going crazy and demanding encores from before the band even started playing! Tridip had a good relationship with the audience throughout, and kept them going. The band covered Angel by Judas Priest and did better than Powersurge. They also covered Sultans of Swing better than Germantown.

The show ended with Faisal from Karma with a remarkable guitar solo. It couldn't have ended better.

The event was partnered and supported by amadergaan.com, Radio Foorti 88.0FM, Incursion Music, Decagon Café and Sound Machine Ltd, and organized by Live-Square Event Management.

By Ahsan Sajid

The ISD auditorium that has hosted several heavy metal concerts and Shakespearean plays saw quite a different sort of show on the evening of 10th November. The event went by the name of 'Aloker Ei Jhhorna Dhhara' and was organized by Utsho, a school for under-privileged children in collaboration with the dance institute 'Nritya Dhhara'.

Since its inception in 1993, Utsho has been committed to providing children from the streets and slums with an education to help shape their lives. It is currently home to 280 children providing them with a caring atmosphere where children feel sheltered; physically and mentally. A short chat with the chairperson of this school, Shahana Khan, revealed that such cultural shows were conducted almost annually in alliance with other choirs and dance troupes of the country as fund raising programs. The revenue that is raised finances the food education and shelter of the students of the residential school in Badda and the non-residential school in Rayerbazar. Mahbooba Mahmud the dedicated individual who looks into every detail of the functioning of the organization greatly appreciates young volunteers and invites the youthful generation to come forward to be a part of this commitment. A backstage investigation found a confident bunch of energetic children dressed all in red eagerly waiting their moment on the stage.

The first half of the program consisted of surprisingly well-coordinated performances by these young children. They danced to the song 'Aloker ei jhhorna dhara' choreographed by Kotha and continued with the song 'Chaadey Buri nei”. Some of the students related their personal experiences in the school. Their fluency and confidence would catch anyone by surprise and remind them that every child regardless of his/her background or condition has tremendous potential. One of the students even wrote a poem and recited it with an impressive and dramatic flair. They ended their part of the show with a song that was meant to be a prayer, and once again they were all in perfect tune!

The next half consisted of a series of dance displays choreographed by several well known choreographers like Munmun Ahmed, Anisul Islam, Tamanna Huq and so on. They put on a fabulous show with a mix of the genres; classical 'kotthok' folk and fusion performed by very skilled and talented young dancers. Their expressions and energy constantly kept the audience at the edge of their seats tapping with the beats and dazed into the world of colours and festivity

Utsho deserves much credit for combining quite a few good things into one show: an entertaining evening that reconnected us with the brightness and festivity of our culture, those proud moments when the children were applauded for their performances and finally the revenue that would ensure the smooth running of the school and the welfare of these children.

By Aniqa Moinuddi

After two long days, the “Higher-edge ESSDC debate championship 2007” finally came to an end on November 10, 2007 with a grand closing ceremony held at the Russian cultural centre. Jointly organized and sponsored by the European Standard School Debate club, and Higher-edge, the 2-day event was an enormous success.

16 teams from 10 of the top schools in Dhaka participated in the event, under the theme of “teens 21st”, depicting the contemporary social, economic, political, and psychological issues regarding the teenagers of the 21st century.

Many new ideas were displayed during the round of debates, as, for the very first time, teen debaters were debating on issues that they could personally relate to, which included topics like “student politics should be banned”, “Teenagers are the sole cause for the spread of YABA”, etc.

Several luminaries were there to grace the closing ceremony with their presence, which included Prof. M.A.Faiz(Vice chancellor of the University of Dhaka), as the chief guest, and Prof. Fakrul Alam, Prof. of English of DU, and well-known TV celebrity, speaker, and anchor, Abdur Noor Tusher. Ranadev Dasgupta, and Zerin Alam, directors, ESS were also present.

Their speeches were closely followed by a brilliant multimedia slide show presentation, prepared by the Debate club members.

Sunnydale-Omega, Notre Dame College- Gold, and Manarat teams 1 and 2 had qualified for the Semi-finals, from where only Manarat-2 and NDC-Gold reached the finals. The suspense kept rising, until by means of a climaxing countdown, the Champions were finally declared through the slideshow presentation.

Manarat-2 walked out with the champions' trophy, while Notre Dame-Gold were the runners-up. The best speaker, who was awarded with a certificate, a complimentary t-shirt on behalf of Higher-Edge and a 500 taka gift voucher from Words 'n' Pages on behalf of ESS was declared to be Anam Hossain, the 3rd speaker of Manarat.

All in all, it was a new and exciting theme, and a very well co-coordinated championship.

By Faria Ahmed

We tend to have a misconception that nothing big can be achieved without financial support, connections and special training. A recent photo exhibition held in Scholastica, however, successfully proved all of the following wrong.

Students of Class XI A organized the exhibition in the courtyard of the school. The students themselves took all of the photos exhibited. The photographs were surprisingly rife with meaningful symbols that equated them with life, and the photo frames themselves were works of art.

One, titled 'Unity', for example, depicted a group of birds sharing food together. 'Perfection', a paradoxical photo, portrayed a pack of rustled; decaying leaves, implying that it is through life's imperfections that true perfection can be achieved. The photo titled 'Phoenix' shows only a circle of luminous red light, but it is significant because of the underlying anticipation of change that the new bird will bring after rising from the ashes. Yet another, 'Illumination beyond Darkness', captured only a few rays of light in a dark room, implying that hope can be found even in the darkest of times.

The frames were unorthodox and innovative. Some decorated their photos with beads, sequins and bamboo sticks, some put together twigs with ribbons, pasted leaves, and brought in other natural elements to enhance the natural effect. Yet others painted pieces of glass with bright colours and pasted their photos on them. The photo exhibition got enormous response from the parents, students and faculty. This is one of those inspirational examples, which show what marvels one can achieve by pursuing one's interests wholeheartedly.

By Anika Tabassum

Art contest

On November 30, Nittyo Upohar, the clothing outlet, is organising their third annual art contest for children.

The contest featuring the two themes '400 years of Dhaka/My favourite City” and “Bangladesh” is open to children from ages 6-15, and offers attractive prizes such as an all-expenses-paid trip for three (contestant + two guardians) to St Martin's Island or the Sundarbans for the three best artists. In addition thirty of the best contestants will receive other attractive gifts, and twelve top designs will be selected for Nittyo Upohar's new t-shirt line.

The event starts at 9am on November 30, at Lichutola, Charukola Institute, Shahbah. Those interested to participate should collect their entry forms from the outlet at the Aziz Supermarket, Shahbagh.

The Melancholic Boy

He lives in a world that is not easy
Surrounded by hi-tech gadgets which keeps him busy
From this illusion he can't break free
Does he really that he is melancholic?
His rigid schedule makes him sad
Along with loneliness, his life is that bad
Feeling that he is locked up in a cage
He can't live like this, not in this young age.

He thinks being young means wild and free
Like an albatross flying in the open sea
He wants to run in an open field
Where his parents will not tell to yield
He looks up at the starry skies
Embellished with billions of luminous stars
He dreams to forget the pain and fly there
But his world is too cruel
His responsibilities are too many
Forever taking over his desires
Making him the melancholic boy.

By Ben Zaman