Tryst with national fame for city band It’s time to hear Bangla songs on national music channels. Lakkhichchara, city’s Bangla band has become the first Bangla band to earn airtime on Channel V with its song, Ke ki bole gelo. In less than a week, another music video Adharma by Bangla band Abhilasha will follow suit in the channel MTV.

The entry of Bangla songs only proves the fact that if the music is good, then language is no barrier. Good music with relevant visuals is a wholesome treat to any audience even if the language is not familiar. Reflects Debaditya, the keyboard artist of Lakkhichhara, “Our video is being aired four to five times a day which shows that we do have a national audience”.

Another important aspect is the fact that the visual content needs to connect with the Gen Y comprising almost 80% of the music channel’s audience. That’s probably the reason why Lakkhichhara’s video which is based on the computer game ‘Counter Strike’ and is partly animated, could make it to the national fame.

The national exposure has helped Lakkhichhara initiate talks with two music labels at the national level and music channels have decided to air two songs from their next album. Interestingly, Cactus, another city band was roped in to remake the Hindi version of their popular number, Ami shudhu cheyechi tomay, for a Hindi Soap by director Anurag Basu sometime back.

Some years back, singer Nachiketa unsuccessfully tried to go on air nationally with one of his numerous numbers. The music video failed miserably to draw eyeballs. With the fresh efforts by the city based bands, this may just be another beginning of Bangla music on national air.

Smita Sharma