Music lovers enamored with Dhaka City Sound Project concert by Goethe-AFD

The Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in partnership with Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), organized a special concert titled 'Dhaka City Sound Project' on Thursday night at the Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), Dhanmondi in the capital, enthralling music lovers with captivating fusion scores.

Five artists including the German musician, music producer and artistic director of Dhaka City Sound project Viktor Marek, renowned Bangladeshi music artist Kanak Aditya, rapper Shagor, percussionist Toisifor Rahman Eem and flutist Jabiul Islam.

Aiming at creating a musical portrait of cities, the City Sound Project was initiated by Goethe-Institut and has been implemented in Dhaka, Kolkata and Colombo.

The decisive factor behind the project is the encounter with an unfamiliar acoustic context and its transformation into a new aesthetic reality.

The City Sound project started in December 2022 with a research visit to Dhaka by Viktor Marek, a German musician and music composer based in Hamburg.

During the trip, Viktor Marek immersed himself in Dhaka's artistic scene and recorded the city's acoustic impressions.

Through this trip, Viktor identified four talented musicians to collaborate with him in producing the sonic portrait of Dhaka: Kanak Aditya (vocalist), Shagor (rapper), Eem (percussion), and Jabiul Islam (flute).

Viktor Marek returned to Dhaka during the first week of July 2023 to commence the production phase of the project.

This phase began with rehearsals involving the four selected musicians and will culminate in two consecutive concerts in Dhaka.

The first concert took place on July 18 at Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed Park Amphitheater in Gulshan 2.

This concert was organized in partnership with Dhaka Sessions powered by bKash.

People from various backgrounds and walks of life joined together to experience Dhaka in a new and extraordinary way through the power of music.

This was followed by this second and final concert on July 20 at Alliance Française de Dhaka premises.

During the production phase, the contributions of four Bangladeshi artists, namely Eem, Kanak Aditya, Shagor, and Jabiul Islam, were essential.

They extensively rehearsed with Viktor Marek to perform alongside Marek during the two concerts in Dhaka.

As a result, the final piece goes beyond being an outsider's musical portrait of Dhaka and instead becomes an inspired blend of both the inside and outside perspectives.

While certain parts of the songs have been rehearsed, the artists mostly improvised, ensuring that each concert is unique.

Titles of the music tracks created through the intensive rehearsals process were: 'Nightrider', 'Gulistan Flowers', 'Good Evening', 'Bassektara', 'Cell Song', 'Alal & Dulal', 'Sky, Water, Land', 'Baul Experience', 'The country of colors', 'Aliens Bells' and 'Maschinenland'.