Bangladeshi band, ‘The Old Dhaka Diaries’ have been around the underground scene for some time, making music about resilience and hope. They are now back with their new single, ‘বাঁকা চাঁদ’ which is going to come out on the 25 of August. The group talks about their music, passion, and what the world needs right now exclusively with WhatsOn.
The band Old Dhaka Diaries started off with three friends, Sadi, Topu, and Anaf back in 2018. Sadi Shahnawaz, the vocalist and lyricist of the band talked about their humble beginning. He said, “We were doing music from our childhood but we played in different bands. In 2018 we started jamming together for fun. We had a lot of unreleased songs under our belt and thus wanted to form a band. We subsequently called it ‘Old Dhaka Diaries’ because we live in Old Dhaka and we have an attachment to this place. And it sounds cool as well!”
Talking about their new song Sadi said, “I always wanted to have a song that represents manic episodes. ‘বাঁকা চাঁদ’ is a culmination of that thought. The moon is actually related to lunacy. When someone goes crazy people used to say that he fell under the influence of the moon. This song is a representation of the manic episode of a person. If you listen to it you will see that the high troubled guitars and the baritone vocals actually envelopes a manic episode that someone is going through in their life.” However, he added that the song was open for different interpretations.
Moshiur Rahman Topu, the lead guitarist of the group also shared his experience working on the new song. The group worked on it quite sometime back when the third member, Anaf was leaving the country. “The song has layers of passion”, he said. “It was not just making music. It was all those emotions working. The Friend is leaving and we might never get the chance to make music with him again.”
Topu further talked about his musical inspiration while growing up. He said, “We are the generation who got both cassettes and the Spotify. In most households, you listened to what your older brother listened to while growing up. I was into Dream Theater & Green Day because I liked the elements of their music. That may be my primary inspiration. But that aside I used to listen to a mixture of all kinds of music.”
Sadi added to this and said, “bands like Artcell, Black, Cryptic Fate, and Nemesis really dust me. More than music it was the cool factor that brought me into this scene. I thought it was damn cool that a person could go up on stage and command an entire plethora of audience. When it comes to my musical influences Alternative rock music inspired me the most. Easy-going music that you can listen to and interpret in your own way.”
As we live in unprecedented times, we asked the band about one thing that the world needs more than ever before. Sadi shared how the world needs empathy right now for the people and the environment. “My heart goes out to the people of Afghanistan”, he said. “The narratives that we have received up till now are very heartbreaking. I hope the people of Afghanistan find a way to get back to their former glory what they used to before they were war-torn and divided into so many ways.”
Both Topu and Sadi have put their heart and soul into the band. For them, this band was a dream that they worked on for years. The band is excited to release their new song ‘বাঁকা চাঁদ’ on the 25th of August. The song is going to be released with an animation video made by a pair of talented artists- Oishik Jawad and Junaid Iqbal Isham.
It is going to be available on all Bangladeshi and international streaming platforms including the Spotify, Gaan app, Imagine radio, Shadin music app as well as on Youtube.
Watch the full interview with The Old Dhaka Diaries below:
