Shironamhin try to remain in hearts of audience for long

Ziaur Rahman Zia is the founder of the popular band Shironamhin. The engineer-turned musician also writes lyrics and composes music. Celebrating the silver jubilee of the band, Shironamhin is going to organise a mega-concert titled ‘The Only Headliner’ on May 26 with the Mumbai Orchestra. In a candid conversation with The Business Post’s Antara Raisa, Ziaur shared the experience of the band in the past 25 years and the details of the upcoming concert

How challenging was it to keep up with the popularity of your band? 

The most challenging part was how the audience receives us as a band. But, the whole process was challenging. In this country, it is very challenging to take band music as a profession. We have to overcome societal and financial barriers. It is very important to maintain the quality of the songs. Only then, the audience will love a band.

Shironamhin stepped into its 25th year. So obviously there is a change of audience of your band. Those who were teens 25 years ago are now grown up and still younger generations listen to your music. Do your lyrics and compositions comply with the taste of the younger generation now?

When I was a school-goer, I read Masud Rana and watched James Bond films. Their readers or viewers are changing day to day. The readers and viewers will change as the years pass by, but these characters will never change. As time goes by, the younger generation will be replaced by another younger generation. The same goes for our songs. The ages of the audience may increase with time, but the age and pattern of our song will be the same. We try our best to maintain the standard of the songs. We try to make the songs something classic. Not every song lasts for a long time in the hearts of the audience. So, we try to do that.

The song ‘Hashimukh’ is very popular among the audience for 18 years. While writing any new song, do you feel the pressure of making every song that popular and long-lasting?

No, I have never felt the pressure. But, when I wrote the sequel of this song ‘Abar Hashimukh’, I felt the pressure of making the sequel supersede the original one. Other than that, I have never felt the pressure.  

Shironamhin’s line-up kept changing. In 2017, Tanjir Tuhin left the band and Sheikh Ishtiaque joined in a very challenging position – vocalist. Did you face any challenges to keep up with the previous standard of your band?

Any change has an impact on the band. It also changes sound and music composition. As a band, 2017 was very crucial for us. But we tackled the challenges. Our song ‘Jadukor’, ‘Ei Obelay’, ‘Kashfuler Shohor Dekha’, sung by Ishtique has garnered positive responses from the audience.  

Let’s talk about Shironamhin’s mega-concert with Mumbai Orchestra. Tell us about it.

This will be the first time in the history of Bangladesh, that Shironamhin will be collaborating with a symphony orchestra team. Popular musicians from other bands including Turzo from Miles, Bappa Mazumdar, Bassbaba Sumon from Arthohin, Lincoln from Artcell, and Bakhtiar from Bay Bengal will play with us as guest musicians at the concert. Every song in the concert has redesigned to play with an orchestra. We are practising from 7:30pm to 3:00pm every night with the orchestra team. We don’t want to miss a single note in the concert because this is once in a lifetime event.