Khan Mohammad Faisal Electronic music producer
Khan Mohammad Faisal, 27, is as a curator at the Dhaka Electronica Scene (DES), a community of electronic music producers. He also produces music under the alias The B Regiment. Faisal learned making electronic music all by himself and is still learning more everyday. This week, YI met with him for an interview.
Sheikh Iraj
What is Dhaka Electronica Scene?
DES started four years back as a Facebook group for a few electronic music producers in Dhaka who were making music. Most electronic music producers in Bangladesh are self taught, and it occurred to us that a social group will enable us to do a lot more and it would be an excellent platform for exchanging ideas.
The initial goal of DES was to make a community where learning was fostered, along with networking with other music producers, graphic artists, illustrators, cinematographers and even live visual artists for top notch content production. Since it is online, it allowed us to connect with music producers from all over the world.
Besides working on a number of projects, which includes residencies for artistes, workshops, startup events and mentoring of new upcoming producers, DES has played a key role in discovering young new talent. We also help new record labels like Incursion Musics Electro and HTM Records or my own, Akaliko Records, to find and promote local talents.
Our project partners include Goethe Institut, Border Movement, Art Council England, British Council, Pathshala Cinema Department, Live Square Entertainment and many others. Yet, DES has never been more than a collective of people with no fixed team, and that is the power of collaboration.
How many albums have you released so far? What keeps you busy these days?
We have released four music compilations to showcase the best tracks. We were actually pretty overwhelmed by the kind of international press reviews we got. It was unexpected, and it also did the job of validating our work.
Our next compilation, called Translations, will be released by Akaliko Records in February 2016.
What is your take on the electronic music scene of Bangladesh?
I would say that it is still at its infant stage. It is tough to develop a scene with its own unique features like Detroit, Chicago or Berlin. It will take a few more years for us to be properly functional.
Right now, the artistes are improving through their own determination and that is the most important thing. There are very limited opportunities right now for them to perform live, but I sincerely believe that electronic music from Bangladesh will make its mark on the global music map.
Despite being a niche genre, global electronic music industry is reported to be worth well over US$7 billion.
What is your future plan?
It will sound crazy if I say that at this point. We just launched our radio show Planet Electronica on Colours FM 101.6, which is the only programme in Bangladesh dedicated to local electronic musicians.
In a country where it is hard to be an artiste, it is even harder to manage them because there are not enough resources or the know-how available to help them do better. Most of the time, we learn by making mistakes.
For now, we just want to let Bangladesh and the world know that there are some talented kids in the country making great music and they deserve to be heard.
Links: www.facebook.com/dhakaelectronica
www.soundcloud.com/dhakaelectronica
