Close Up1 Mania
in Bangladesh Music Industry... ...

   As you all know, last year Nolok  was the winner of the first ever musical talent hunt show in Bangladesh  - ‘Close Up1 – Tomakei Khujchhe Bangladesh’. And he was my personal favorite too… I wrote a blog entry on him, when he became the top of that competition by winning the hearts of more than tens of thousands of viewers who voted him to be the king – the first ever ‘Bangladeshi Idol’.

    It’s true that folk songs bring out best in Nolok’s voice, but he showed his maturity in both moderns and oldies in the last year Closeup1 contest. In only last few months, Nolok became almost a myth. We just hope he will develop a great singer in him and enrich to main stream music in Bangla.

    Recently, Nolok’s first solo album ‘She Je Konna Valo’ has been released. It’s a typical folk album as you may have expected from Nolok. This album has 10 melodious tracks! I have listened all of them and I’ve liked some… Specially I should mention the title track ‘She Je Konna Bhalo’ along with some other tracks : ‘Amar Mare Behest Tumi’, ‘Oi Duurer Gaye’,  ‘Ontorer Vitor’… You can download all the tracks of this album from here.

    Top eleven winners of Close Up 1 contest, 2005 recently performed in a music video, sponsored by the Close Up brand titled ‘Bijoy Keton Orey’. The song is very patriotic and highly emotional as well.  Mr. Naushad Chowdhury, Brands & Development Director of Unilever Bangladesh, wrote the lyrics of this patriotic song. The youthful and vibrant music was composed by one and only Bappa Mazumder. The music video of this song is one of the best ever Bangla music videos I have ever seen specially because of its top class making and its beautiful outdoor settings. This music video was shot in different beautiful locations of Bangladesh like Cox’s Bazaar, Rangamati, Manikganj etc. These outdoor settings along with the top 11 Close Up1 winners’ energetic gestures portrayed not only the natural beauty of our country, but also a sense of power and strength in order to face the future. Download this awesome music video from here (right click & select save target as). You can get this song in mp3 format as well from my multiply music site.

     Previously, our ‘Lalon Konna’ Beauty released her first solo album titled ‘Chorondashi’ featuring some soulful Lalon songs and some contemporary folk songs. The album contains 10 numbers including ‘Itoropona’, ‘Deho ekhon hashpataley’, ‘Shorboshadhon’, ‘Jomlo na pirit’, ‘Kobey shadhur choron dhuli’ and more. Beauty's style is undeniably 'folk' and the songs in the album utilize that skill. Her renditions of the Lalon songs, in particular, stand out. Get this album from here .

        Mehrab and Rumi, two other Close Up 1 contestants, get their shot at entertaining the listeners through their duet album ‘Adda’. The album consists 10 tracks. Rumi and Mehrab rendered five songs each. The tracks ‘Cholon bil’, ‘Swapney bheshey jai’, ‘Duurtoma’, ‘Adda’ and more composed by Prince Mahmud and Asif Iqbal are quite easy on ear. The songs mostly belong to the style of contemporary pop and adhunik. Try out this album songs from here .

      Recently, a mix album titled ‘Tarunner Joyogaan’ was released which includes some of the popular tracks sung by the top 11 contestants in the last year Close Up 1 competition : Nolok, Razib, Beauty, Soniya, Rinku, Mehrab, Rashed, Mahadi, Abid, Nawrin and Rumi along with the theme song of the contest ‘Jodi Lokhkho Thake Autut’.  Get this whole album from here. You can also check out another album ‘Ora Tin Jon’ by the top three  Nolok, Rajib & Beauty by following this link . If it’s not enough yet,  just visit here.