Pull the plug concert

The Pull the Plug concert took place on April 2 at Words & Pages' Big Adda in Gulshan, the tickets costing Tk.100 each. Along with the tickets came a free 'drink', which was actually a bottle of Mojo and instead of starting at the scheduled time (6pm), the event commenced at around eight o'clock. The open-air concert was arranged in the backyard of Big Adda- a small vacant space where a stage had been set up under the canopy of trees, creating a rather pleasant atmosphere for the audience.

The show began with Soothsayer taking the stage with Majed on vocals, Aiman doing guitars, Nowfel on keyboard, Rafi on drums and Pavel on bass; this being their first gig in nine months time. But sadly, it seemed as though many of their fans hadn't made it to the concert for the crowd turnout had been extremely low. Despite the negatives, the band went ahead and started off with their own track 'Alor Shokal'. Majed, bassist and vocalist of the band, was successful in captivating the audience with his powerful voice as Soothsayer did renditions of 'Broken' and 'Fine Again' by Seether. However, in spite of the band's commendable efforts, the average quality of the sound system was an insistent drawback. They ended their performance with 'Swing Life Away' by Rise Against.

Next came on Eclipse, their members comprising of Diep on vox, Wasium on guitars, Adnan on keyboard, Nazim on drums and Dipro doing bass. The bands' opening track was 'Easier to Be' by Lifehouse. Diep's soothing vocals added up with Nazim's harmonization did perfect justice to the song. But it was their unreleased track 'Dhrubo Shopno' that enticed everyone. The composition was soft, romantic and mellow - turning out to be perfect for the evening since a strong wind had begun blowing, followed by flashes of lightning. And when the band's guitarist, Wasiun, finished his solo segment of the song, the crowd burst into applause.

After that, Eclipse introduced a female guest vocalist, Nayeema Reza, to the audience. Nayeema accompanied Diep in the duet 'Whiskey Lullaby' by Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss, impressing the crowd with her promising vocals. Finally, the band wrapped it up with 'Take Away My Pain' and the ever so magnificent track 'Hollow Years' by Dream Theater.

By the time the third and also the last band of the evening Xoroastrian appeared on stage, it had gotten pretty late. With Samir(lead guitarist), Rezwan(guitarist), Ovi (drummer), Real (vocalist) and Pavel (bassist) on stage, the entire band took off with the Watson Brothers' 'Rong'.

Later, they did 'Wind of Change' by Scorpions and 'Poth Chola' by none other than Artcell. The bands overall performance seemed to be surprisingly mediocre that day, but they did strike a note with LRB's 'Shei Tumi' and both guitarists did quite a good job in most of the songs. Xoroastrian finished off with 'November Rain' by Guns N' Roses, ending the concert with a satisfactory parting note.

In general, the concert was just about all right but much more people had been expected to show up given the band line up. Whether the reason for the low turnout had been bad weather, bad publicity or the concert's delay in commencement, still remains a mystery. We wish the organizers, MAFC events, better luck for next time.

By Muntiii AzeR
Photo: Anamika Islam

Face paints

Imagine this- you are walking merrily along the road. All of a sudden a man comes at you, holding something long in his hand which has red colors on the top and around the edges and which looks fearfully like a blood stained knife. He grins at you, his eyes widened maliciously. What will you do? Run for your life, or maybe scream your head off? Before you do, take a good look at what the person's holding. If you are lucky, that could be a paintbrush and he could offer to paint your face.

This face painting has become quite popular in recent times, especially during the cricket matches, 'Bangla Nabobarsho', 'Falguni Utsab'. In these gatherings you are sure to find people displaying their artistic skills. Most of them are from the Fine Arts Institution of Dhaka University and they are easily recognizable for their distinctive styles. But be careful, unskilled idiots and perverts are also quite common.

There are separate types of designs for each of the festivals. On the 26th March and 16th December processions the common subject is the flag and colour is green and red while that for the 21st February is the Shaheed Minar and theme colour is black and white. Bangla New year and Falguni celebration offer a wide variety of colour and designs. Pictures that are usually drawn on the face include the dhol, pakha (hand fans), messages, greetings, random alphabets etc. Usually the artists ask for your choice but some are so busy that they paint to their choices. They usually charge 20 Taka for adults and more for children.

Oh, one thing to remember: after doing paint jobs, try not to cry or sweat for some time; the paint could wash out.

By Jawad Mahmud

Taming crazy rickshaw pullers

If you live in Dhaka, then you ought to have had a crazy rickshaw ride. The number of reckless ricky pullers who love overtaking cars and flying over speed breakers are increasing by the day which is why, we've come up with innovative things you could try saying to make them drive safely.

1. Let me guess Mama, you need to go catch your own wedding? Your bride is waiting for you and the Kazi is getting impatient? Yup, that explains your rush.

2. Umm, you need to go to the bathroom, isn't it? Too much pressure? Tell you what, pull over and feel free to use the drain. We'll get another rickshaw, its ok!

3. {a common dialogue we often use}Mama, why don't you try flying over the cars? You know you should be flying airplanes instead of this rickshaw. What speed!

4. The brakes don't work, right???

5. I understand you're new at this. It's ok, even though it's evident that you don't know how to handle this thing, with time you will learn. For now, why not try going a little slow, please?

By Nayeema Reza