Arnob Unheard Voices Tour 2008 to benefit Drishtipat

rafiq · #1 October 13, 2008, 11:38 PM

Hi All:

Hope we beat NZ and get that elusive series win today!

You may have heard about Arnob's upcoming tour to the US, Canada and the UK to perform in a series of benefit concerts for Drishtipat, the global non-profit focused on improving human rights and social justice in Bangladesh. See the TV commerical running on NTV and ATN Bangla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-bZZ6mzc9w

Each event promises to be a fantastic opportunity to showcase Bangladesh and its culture, and who better to do that than Arnob, arguably the most talented Bangladeshi musician of his generation. Arnob will be touring with a talented band comprising of Andrew Morris (sax), Nazrul (dhol). Dhrubo (bass), Jibon (drums) and Nazia (vocals); each event also features local Bangladeshi talent.

The tour is also a way to introduce Drishtipat's work http://www.drishtipat.org/projects.html to a broader audience. Funds raised will go towards 2009 projects ranging from funding underprivileged children's education to improving the rights of child domestic workers.

So if you are in DC, Austin, New York, Toronto or London, please visit http://www.drishtipat.org/concert2008/ for details including opening acts and to buy tickets.

The concert dates are as follows:

October 18: Washington DC
Time: 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location: Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Street: 600 I Street, N.W.

October 21: Austin, Texas
Time: 7:00PM-9:00PM
Location: UT Flawn Academic Center (FAC 21) (Complements of UT BSA
Organized by: Bangladeshi community in Austin

October 25: New York City
Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Peter Norton Symphony Space
Street: 2537 Broadway at 95th St

October 26: Toronto
Time: 7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Ontario Science Center

October 30: London
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: LOGAN HALL, Bloomsbury (Piccadilly line - Russell Square station) Street: 23 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL

If you cannot make the concerts, but want to make a donation to Drishtipat, please do so at http://www.drishtipat.org/give.html. Most importantly, I hope many of you can come out and enjoy the show and celebrate a true Bangladeshi maestro!

Thanks!

Rafiq

*AsifTheManRahman* · #2 October 14, 2008, 09:13 AM

I got tickets to the one in Toronto.

rafiq · #3 October 14, 2008, 10:43 AM

good to hear ATMR, help spread the word! I think Tehsin will be out at the DC show as well....what about a banglacricket banner (OK i will leave that up to Tehsin and DC concert organizers

cricket_pagol · #4 October 14, 2008, 11:20 AM

I wanted to attend the chicago concert but it got canceled

rafiq · #5 October 14, 2008, 04:52 PM

Cricket_pagol: chicago was cancelled when the visas were taking longer than we had anticipated. There's some new processes for performers now, it all took too long. Worked out finally, they got their visas but by then we had already made a call to can Chicago - being the first date it had most risk. Tough for us out here....if you are ever in town, give me a shout!

Puck · #6 October 14, 2008, 06:24 PM

i was in this forum earlier this afternoon and noticed that it had two negative ratings. there were no responses but just the negative ratings. i wanted to pose this question to you all, what could be so negative about this threat or for that matter a human right's fund raising gathering?

**Tehsin** · #7 October 14, 2008, 07:54 PM

2 negative ratings for a fund raising event? I hope you guys are really proud of yourself.

I'll be at the Washington DC event and I am looking forward to a Bangladeshi concert after a years absense. I went to the Channel I Bangladesh night event last year (Hyder was amazing, Habib is ok, Runa Laila needs to retire, sorry) and Channel I packaged that show and showed it during Eid last week. They showed me 3/4 times.

Niceman70 · #8 October 15, 2008, 12:55 AM

i think im going to nyc concert..not sure.

cricket_pagol · #9 October 15, 2008, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rafiq
Cricket_pagol: chicago was cancelled when the visas were taking longer than we had anticipated. There's some new processes for performers now, it all took too long. Worked out finally, they got their visas but by then we had already made a call to can Chicago - being the first date it had most risk. Tough for us out here....if you are ever in town, give me a shout!

thanks for the info... I let you know when i am Chicago, feel free to do the same when you are in West Lafayette.

rafiq · #10 October 16, 2008, 12:47 PM

http://arnobdrishtipat.wordpress.com/

hey guys check out the blog for updates, pictures...rehersals in DC are fantastic and I think I will go out to NYC to catch a show....

*AsifTheManRahman* · #11 October 16, 2008, 12:51 PM

How long does Drishtipat take to mail out tickets? It's been 12 days and counting. No reply to my emails either.

rafiq · #12 October 16, 2008, 06:30 PM

hmm...each venue has their own ticketing. I'll forward your question to the Toronto folks and see what I can find out.

rafiq · #13 October 19, 2008, 08:54 PM

I read this update on the DC concert last night as described on http://arnobdrishtipat.wordpress.com/....Austin is on Tuesday and NYC/Toronto shows next weekend..get your tickets!

"I am looking for words here yet I can’t find the right ones. I don’t know how to describe what happened last night at the Arnob Concert in DC. Because it was something only someone who was there in person could feel and understand for themselves. This is my 11th year in Washington DC and this is the first time I have seen a group of musicians who made the audience soak in musicals bliss. There were 350 of us who went through a spiritual experience while Arnob, Andrew, Nazia, Dhrubo, Nazrul and Jibon played from their hearts, sang from their souls. Nazia’s voice brought tears to the some eyes, people left wanting more. Arnob sang “Tui Lal paharer deshe ja” to “Se je boshe ache” ending with one of the most upbeat polli giti that had the whole hall dancing, even the uncles and the aunties. I have already gotten requests to bring them back again, questions like “when is the next show?” “can’t they do another one in DC?”

Arnob and Friends world tour has just started. I know they will rock Austin, New York, Toronto and London. They are excited, their energy is at the highest and you will see it for yourself when they come to your town. Don’t miss this, it’s a piece of Desh, a piece of heaven, a piece of you that you had forgotten about… come share the bliss!"

**Tehsin** · #14 October 19, 2008, 11:48 PM

Rafiq bhai, I enjoyed the show myself. I wasn't as moved by Arnob (I had REALLY high expectations and when you have that, sometimes great isn't enough) but he did have good chemistry with the audience, they loved him, Nazia has a fabulous voice and Andrew probably had more interaction with the audience. I believe yesterday was the first time Andrew (sax) beat Arnob in their ongoing competition on who can go longest (shur dhore rakha) on 'Amar Haar Kala Korlam Re' (guys, check out the vdo in youtube from an earlier live performance). Andrew said he usually beats Arnob during practice but Arnob always wins in live shows and Andrew wanted us to cheer him on and we did. I was really impressed with Nazia, she sounded more polished then Arnob, those 13 years of classical training flows thru her voice. For the last song of the day, they (mainly Andrew) asked everyone to come to the front to dance and folks joined in. It was great. I personally thought Arnob needed to crank up the volume a little bit more and not sound like he was simply going through the motions. R ektu mood dorkar chilo. However, there was enough mood for a lot of the other folks. Maybe I was just off.

Sauron · #15 October 22, 2008, 12:10 AM

Just came back from the Austin show. We all enjoyed a lot! My 9 year old did not want to leave before the show was over, even though it was past her bedtime by almost 3 hours.

I already knew Arnob was talented, no surprise there. But the the best thing was his chemistry with Andrew. Also, this guy is "real". No star attitude. Also liked Nazia's singing is great.

Loved it.

rafiq · #16 October 26, 2008, 11:29 PM

I was in NYC last night and the show was tremendous. Good turnout as well! Toronto was tonight...hope the band made it there after staying up late into the night LOL! London next weekend so hope you guys catch it there. ATN filmed the New York show, will be aired soon hopefully. Arnob and Andrew do have great chemistry, and Nazia has a phenomenal voice....I am looking forward to a recording of the group together.

*AsifTheManRahman* · #17 October 27, 2008, 12:30 PM

Here's my experience of the Toronto concert:

My friends and I got VIP tickets which included the privilege of meeting the band for 15 minutes before the show. We took photos and chatted for a while. Andrew's a pretty cool guy and perhaps the most talkative of the bunch.

Me: "I heard about the concert at DC - sounds like you were pretty much the center of attention out there"
Andrew: "Depends who you ask. If you ask me, of course I was. I like your hair by the way."
Me: "Nah man, you're just being creepy".

Me: "Arnob bhai, amar girlfriend to apnar gaan pochondo korlo na. Koto shokh koira shunailam, halar beti meaning-feaning kisui bujhlo na. Ei koshto ami kothay rakhi?"
Arnob: "Bujhlam na, pochondo korse naki kore nai?"
Me: "Kore nai"
Arnob (at a loss for words and with a kebla hashi): "Bhaloi hoise".

The concert itself was pretty awesome. They opened the show with a girl that I went to high school with, so it was good to see that she's come a long way since the last time I heard her sing. Arnob was visibly tired and dying from lack of sleep, so he wasn't quite at his best (in fact he wasn't anywhere near his best), but Nazia was too good. Andrew beat Arnob in their little contest (again) and Nazrul put up a pretty good show near the end with his dhol. The crowd danced to the last song of the day just like they did in the other cities.

There were many hints of disorganization (people's names weren't on the tickets list, the equipment wasn't working too well, the organizers were following BST) which took a lot of the fun out of it, but if it wasn't for last night, I wouldn't have known what a great job Drishtipat is doing around the world. It's one thing to visit their website and read up on their activities and another to have it presented to you like that.

bdchamp20 · #18 October 27, 2008, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AsifTheManRahman
Here's my experience of the Toronto concert:

My friends and I got VIP tickets which included the privilege of meeting the band for 15 minutes before the show. We took photos and chatted for a while. Andrew's a pretty cool guy and perhaps the most talkative of the bunch.

Me: "I heard about the concert at DC - sounds like you were pretty much the center of attention out there"
Andrew: "Depends who you ask. If you ask me, of course I was. I like your hair by the way."
Me: "Nah man, you're just being creepy".

Me: "Arnob bhai, amar girlfriend to apnar gaan pochondo korlo na. Koto shokh koira shunailam, halar beti meaning-feaning kisui bujhlo na. Ei koshto ami kothay rakhi?"
Arnob: "Bujhlam na, pochondo korse naki kore nai?"
Me: "Kore nai"
Arnob (at a loss for words and with a kebla hashi): "Bhaloi hoise".

The concert itself was pretty awesome. They opened the show with a girl that I went to high school with, so it was good to see that she's come a long way since the last time I heard her sing. Arnob was visibly tired and dying from lack of sleep, so he wasn't quite at his best (in fact he wasn't anywhere near his best), but Nazia was too good. Andrew beat Arnob in their little contest (again) and Nazrul put up a pretty good show near the end with his dhol. The crowd danced to the last song of the day just like they did in the other cities.

There were many hints of disorganization (people's names weren't on the tickets list, the equipment wasn't working too well, the organizers were following BST) which took a lot of the fun out of it, but if it wasn't for last night, I wouldn't have known what a great job Drishtipat is doing around the world. It's one thing to visit their website and read up on their activities and another to have it presented to you like that.

Is her name Sunehni(or anything similar) by any chance?

bdchamp20 · #19 October 27, 2008, 02:26 PM

Can anyone tell me what Arnob's new song is called. The one where he is walking though Gulshan-2 streets. The video is quite good, I forgot what the song's called.

ialbd · #20 October 27, 2008, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdchamp20
Is her name Sunehni(or anything similar) by any chance?

or was it Armeen...
she was inviting us on facebook for the show, too bad couldnt make it.

whats next in Toronto??

*AsifTheManRahman* · #21 October 27, 2008, 04:26 PM

Armeen Musa. Possibly from Ishtiaq's batch.

static · #22 October 28, 2008, 08:53 AM

http://www.insidedesi.com/2008/10/28...nheard-voices/

**Tehsin** · #23 October 29, 2008, 08:32 PM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7QN6LS...eature=related - Amar Haar Kala/Arnob vs Andrew (it amazing that he sounds better here than in live and I was right there as they were shooting this)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BQuWQ92cbsM - Nazia singing O Re Nil Dariya

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VRt6UR...eature=related - Nazia singing the Indian classic. Amazing voice.

Nocturnal · #24 October 30, 2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdchamp20
Can anyone tell me what Arnob's new song is called. The one where he is walking though Gulshan-2 streets. The video is quite good, I forgot what the song's called.

'Rastay' - from his 3rd album Doob.

Nice video

*AsifTheManRahman* · #25 December 5, 2008, 12:01 AM

Eric Kalivoda, Shemushi Nasreen, Mattan Rojstaczer and Greg Sinn performing Arnob's "Bakshe bakshe" at the Drum N Dance Fiesta '08: