“Rock should be a new religion to all of us” – Kausiq

Bangla band Prithibi has re-launched their album “Chapter II” on 14th August, Sunday at Music World, Park Street. 5 years ago, on a day like this, they had first established their mass contact and reached the ears of people in Kolkata. So, along with this album re-launch program Prithibi celebrated their birthday too. Front man and drummer of the renowned Bangla Rock band Cactus, Sidhu and Baji were also present there to celebrate with them.  The response of fans to this event was pretty positive and that was shown in the number of normal fans, music enthusiasts and musicians turning up there at the musical corner of the busy Park Street. In this event, Prithibi gave acoustic performance of their songs like “O Amar” and “Classroom” which belong to their previous album.

After the event was over, we had a chat session with our very own Kausiq Chakraborty, the vocalist, lyricist & composer of Prithibi and it went something like this:

CAG: Hello Kausiq! It’s a pleasure to have you with us here on Calling All Gigs. How are all of you doing?

Kausiq: We’re fine, thanks! Just played an acoustic session here with all of our fans, it was really nice.

CAG: Why did you feel the need of re-launching this album?

Kausiq: It’s been nearly 6 months since we have released “Chapter II” and the album was a hit. The response we have got from audience and media is overwhelming. The music companies here don’t really do justice to the Bengali rock bands, there songs and albums don’t get promoted properly. Launching “Chapter II” was a great chance that we got. The album has been nominated for the best album category in Zee Bangla, and that is a huge step forward for us. This also implies the fact that Prithibi is now become a band which can go hand in hand with big mainstream bands. We can now lend our shoulders to carry Bengali rock music forward in this music industry. That’s why we thought it’s high time to re-launch Chapter II in front of our fans and make a way for more people to get to know our music by this re-launch. We are very grateful to Asha Audio for releasing this album.

CAG: What is the significance of this Re-launch? Do you think it’s going to set a trend for bangle band sin future?

Kausiq: We thought we have reached a certain point where we could do something like this. We have to now make our establishment stronger, we have to grow bigger. Prithibi is the first Bangla band ever to re-launch an album and we are proud of it. We don’t know if we have set a trend or so, but we definitely have established something that future bands can follow.

CAG: It’s been 10 years. How has the journey been so far?

Kausiq: The journey has been amazingly interesting. It was never a smooth ride. First five years, I was at the position of one man standing; alone I lived, alone I wrote songs, and I spent tears in lonesome blues. I used to roam around the city on my cycle, carrying a guitar on my shoulder, trying to find a bandmate, a fellow musician to play with me. I asked people after people if they’ll play with me in a band. They didn’t bother to take me seriously; may be my face offended them, or may be they thought I wasn’t good enough to be played with. But now they can see where I stand, where my band stands, and I’m happy about it!

CAG: Now that Chapter II is there being celebrated, what is next?

Kausiq: After Chapter II, next is Chapter III…!!!

CAG: Word in the air is that you have this secret wish to restart Band-e-Mataram. Is that true?

Kausiq: Yes of course it’s true; I strongly want to do it. But I don’t know why the rest of the people in this music scenario, the fellow musicians, they don’t seem interested enough to reopen this great musical platform for bands. I have talked to Rupam da (ref: Rupam Islam, Fossils), and he has similar view on this as mine. We certainly can do something, if and only if we try all together.

CAG: Any message to rock fanatics and upcoming bangla bands?

Kausiq: Yes, the one thing that I always tell, just as eating, sleeping, and falling in love and break ups are in our routine, Rock music should also become like that routine. Rock music doesn’t only stand for just music; it doesn’t just mean black T-shirts, or head banging, it’s much more than that. Rock music is kind of a religion. You have to make people know this religion, convert them into this religion. And that way they’ll carry this music forward, forever.

CAG: That brings us to the end of this interview. Thank you very much for taking the time to sit down for us! Hope to see you again soon!

Kausiq: Thanks a lot for the interview, and thanks to all Prithibi fans and supporters! See you soon! Rockullash…