Dubai-based Park Street Band on their love of Bengali music

Gulf News

Full Article here: https://gn24.ae/81d66a338ab5000 See more at: https://gulfnews.com/videos  Dubai based Park Street band came to Gulf News to chat about their inspirations, why Kolkata and music go hand in hand, and their musical inspirations.  #ParkStreetBand #BengaliMusic #Kolkata

Transcript

00:00Today we are joined by Park Street Band.

00:09We are here to talk about how they have enriched the community,

00:12specifically the Bengali community,

00:14and how they have contributed to a very vibrant cultural scene out here in Dubai.

00:20So thank you all for joining us today.

00:22Thank you, thank you.

00:23And if we just, you know, start with a very basic question that everybody has,

00:27that why Park Street Band?

00:29The feeling of wanting to create something for the community

00:33has been very silently sort of been brewing for many years.

00:38However, I think individually we've known that there's potential.

00:41However, collectively we didn't know what to do about it.

00:44Perhaps in many house parties we used to go and we were asked to sing Bengali songs.

00:49So the knowledge that the demand exists, the love exists, the nostalgia exists was there.

00:55But here we were doing English music, Hindi music with other bands.

01:00And I think there eventually came a time when we realized that this energy should go mainstream.

01:08And that's when we started the band and it's been a couple of very good years since.

01:12Yeah, you're on PSB4.

01:14Last week we just had the fourth edition of Park Street Band.

01:19So how has the journey been so far?

01:22Look, it's been absolutely incredible actually because, you know,

01:26when the idea of the branch was first conceptualized,

01:31and I will take a name, it was a good friend of mine called DJ.

01:35He and I were talking about this idea of creating an event which is not a partisan event,

01:41which is an event where we celebrate all things Kolkata, food, music, companionship.

01:49And the first edition, if I remember, was an invite-only, very niche, very small get-together of sorts.

01:56But that event was such a success that it gave us, the band, the confidence to think bigger

02:03and eventually multiply that audience many times over.

02:06And we're very happy to say that in the fourth edition,

02:10we've had almost four times the turnout that we had in the first edition.

02:15And let's admit it, 80-90% of the people that we attract are Bengalis.

02:20So I think in terms of an addressable market share, we have a pretty high share.

02:25And we're frankly very thankful to people in the UAE for coming down in large numbers and giving us that support.

02:32So who are your biggest influences?

02:34It's a tough one, but I have to admit I got into Bengali band music listening to a band called Cactus.

02:42Of course, that was the start, and eventually bands like Bhoomi and Fossils, etc.

02:48Yeah, I think similarly. I think Cactus, of course, Bajita drumming, so I play the drums.

02:53So of course, some of them have left a little bit of mark on Bengali music especially.

02:59I think otherwise it's been, as musicians, I think we also enjoy different genres, I think, each one of us.

03:05I've been heavily inspired by African global music,

03:08so even now sometimes when I need my little bit of my time,

03:13make sure that you log on to some of the best stuff on Soul and African and just listen to them.

03:20The band members always keep introducing me to new music.

03:23So I don't have any favorites as of now.

03:26But yeah, Neil Diamond and all these timeless classics, they've always been there with me.

03:32When it comes to inspiration, I would always say Bengali inspiration, Bengali music.

03:37It's what you hear and what you see while you're growing up.

03:42So that definitely just gets you to the roots of how you started.

03:48So for me, my family was very musically inclined,

03:53and my dad's mama used to be, my grandma's brother was Sri Dhananjay Bhattacharya.

04:01From there, we got firstly the Nozul Geeti angle, the Shyama Shung Geet angle,

04:07and seeing him perform on stage, and then it moved to another relative of mine who was Nochi Geeta,

04:14then going with him in his car to his concerts,

04:19seeing him from backstage and looking at the crowd going crazy,

04:23then got into college, and then somebody said,

04:28So got into the Bengali band, started watching live concerts.

04:33That's where it all started with Porush Pathur, Cactus, Chandru Bindu, Bhoomi.

04:39And Fossils came in a bit late, but these were the people who were there at that point of time.

04:45And watching them, hearing them from the millions in the crowd and trying to be aspired,

04:53it was a dream come true being on that stage.

04:58So among all these inspirations that you spoke about,

05:01most of these, specifically the Bengali bands,

05:04you're talking about, let's say, the 80s and 90s and afterwards a little bit.

05:09But going forward, do you think Bengali bands and let's say Bangla rock, it has a future?

05:14Music in Bengali definitely has a future.

05:18It is how we portray it.

05:20It's not the genre, it's rock, pop or reggaeton or something,

05:25but it's how we put it across to the mass audience.

05:28Today, communication has grown wider.

05:30At that point of time, we didn't have YouTube.

05:32We didn't have any medium to reach out to the world.

05:36Today, it's at a click of a button.

05:38So it's how we utilize that.

05:40Music will never die.

05:41Bengali music, for sure, will never die within the Bengalis.

05:44I mean, we've kept Kishore Kumar alive still, yeah.

05:46So even Ravindra Raghunath Thakur.

05:48So yeah, you can imagine.

05:49There is a unique essence of Bengali that you find in us.

05:52You also find the great stuff that we play from English.

05:56We do a little bit of Hindi once in a while.

05:59Rohit sings Hindi really well.

06:01So I think for us, it's also the future of the band through Bengali music.

06:05How do we kind of get all sorts of languages together, perform them together

06:09and I think there's a lot of future for music overall.

06:12So in the past, there was a clear demarcation between band music and film music.

06:17And commercially, we all know that there's more money in films, simply.

06:21I think somewhere the two parts are meeting now.

06:25So today, so to specifically answer this, Bengali band music have a future.

06:30On stage, I agree with Rohit, they do.

06:33But more importantly, commercially, they have a very sort of relevant future

06:37in terms of the fact that films today and music directors in films today

06:41are hiring the bands to write the music for the films.

06:43What is it so special about Kolkata and music?

06:46What is it that binds Kolkata and music together?

06:49So in Kolkata, when you're growing up, you're always being, you're sent to school, of course.

06:55And then, what do you want to learn? Dance, art, music.

07:00So most of the people opt for music because that's more easily acceptable

07:07and it's flourishing all over on the radio, day-to-day life, more than the other two.

07:13So that's how Kolkata is so rich in the music scene.

07:20And that's how we have some great musicians coming out of there.

07:25So I think Kolkata and music always have that kind of a connection

07:31where music and Kolkata is very synonymous there.

07:33Out here, how has the reception and the reactions been from the community and from beyond?

07:38Absolutely incredible. And we have to pinch ourselves to believe, you know,

07:45in some of the realities which we've been hit by.

07:48I think last year particularly was an incredible year.

07:51We got to open for, rather we shared the stage almost with three iconic artists from Kolkata.

08:01Cactus was one of them. Orko Mukherjee is another one.

08:04Mir Afsar Ali is the third. And we got recognized by an award, with an award.

08:12We made our first trip back home to play as a band in Bengal.

08:17That was huge. PSP3 took place last year.

08:23That was again a really big event where we also formed a great alliance

08:29and a very deep friendship with a celebrated artist from Kolkata called Rishi Chando

08:34who was playing with Parash Pathore at a particular point of time and Hip Pocket.

08:39And, you know, the other thing is, while you're asking the community here,

08:44the incredible thing that happened last year was PSP started to become a buzzword even back home in Kolkata.

08:50So today a lot of artists and bands from Bengal have endorsed us,

08:57have blessed us, have taken care to know us personally, to reach out to us.

09:02And all of that has given us a status that we did not expect.

09:07Neither, to be honest, did we strive for because we just wanted to keep it simple at the start.

09:11Just spread joy.

09:13Going forward, what do you think will be your biggest challenge?

09:15How do you see, let's say, PSB10 or PSB20?

09:19One of the things that we are dealing with, the challenge that we are dealing with in this market right now is,

09:24you know, entertainment is also oversupplied.

09:27So I think eventually to make this commercially more viable to grow,

09:34to get sponsors and partners on board, and if anyone's watching, you know, if you like the idea,

09:39come forward, get in touch with us.

09:41I think the idea is noble.

09:43We're obviously not doing this for money, but we need money to keep the chapter growing at some level.

09:50That could be, you know, one challenge.

09:53Also, you know, there's, you know, they say that sometimes it's a difficult problem to have.

09:57We've grown much faster than we would have imagined.

10:00So maintaining that growth rate could, you know, in a sense be a challenge.

10:04But I think our goal, and I'll just spin that word from challenge to ambition,

10:08our ambition is definitely to go out and represent this product to the world.

10:15Because what we have, I sincerely believe, and I say this with all humility,

10:20that what we have from an entertainment perspective,

10:23I'm not sure if anyone else across the globe is doing it.

10:28Finally, just before we go, one special song from each of you.

10:31What is just the one special song that you would always remember?

10:36For me, it would be Rohit singing Puranoshi Dinerkatha in Bengali.

10:41There's a song which really came close to my heart was Ma.

10:45And I think it resonates with all of us.

10:49This is the song which he was telling you the story how it all started.

10:52And we were after a certain place.

10:56We just got together with a guitar and started off with a song.

11:00And the song was...

11:50I agree with everything that they've said. These are my favorites too.

11:54So I'll try to give an answer that is slightly different.

11:58There's one, two, let me name two.

12:01One is a song called Ajo Ache by Parash Pathar.

12:04And the reason I'm mentioning it is when we do it on stage and when we sing those lines,

12:09it almost feels like the PSB story is being told.

12:13Ajo Ache, I mean, even today, those beautiful moments exist.

12:18And it just hits the spot when it comes to nostalgia.

12:21The other one, you know, and a song which played perhaps a silent part

12:26in the naming of the band is Shudhu Tume Elena.

12:30It's a song that we did in the medley at the end.

12:33And there's that one line which says,

12:35Katha chilo bodh liye dabo, Park Street and Naam.

12:38You know, I suppose we're not doing that yet.

12:41But at least we are giving Park Street a new flavor and character in Dubai.

12:45Eshan, Mithin, Rohit and Smith, thank you so much for joining us today.

12:50And thank you. Thank you.

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