and the TV promo is out

Message from Arnob to his fans

I am really excited to see you all in October. Our trip looks set. I advise you buy the tickets ahead of time for the concerts in New York, Toronto, Washington DC and London. I am coming with the whole band with Andrew, Dhrubo, Nazia, Jibon and Nazrul and the venues that have been booked look outstanding. So it will really be a wholesome experience. Bring your friends along and we are looking forward to meet you all..thanx

Live from DC, Arnob Tickets are On Sale!

The month of September at DPDC started with ticket sale for the DC Arnob concert.  Our tickets are now available at https://arnobconcert-dc.ticketleap.com 

After making the link live I couldn’t help by check in every hour to see if there was a sale and pleasantly surprising me DC folks were buying tickets within the first 24 hours of going live.  It’s such a great feeling to see the numbers going up everday, we are looking forward to all the faces that will be present with us on October 18.  We are eagerly building the day up with less than 10 pairs of hands but we are cofident that these hands can do magic. Come see for yourself!

Arnob tour news on Daily Star

The press release has got good coverage in DS today.

Here is the link

Jamal Ahmed’s art to benefit Drishtipat

Jamal Ahmed is well known to those who follow the contemporary Bangladesh art scene. Long established as one of Bangladesh’s leading painters, he is in a class of artists now becoming known outside Bangladesh as well. His work may not have reached the revered heights of a Shahbuddin or SM Sultan, but those who collect Jamal know he is certainly on the ascendency.

What I find admirable about Jamal is his willingness to donate his time and art for a good cause. This year, the Bangladeshi focused human rights group, Drishtipat, hosts a series of Arnob concerts in the US, Canada and UK to raise funds for its programs (www.drishtipat.org/concert2008/). Jamal has stepped forward himself, and his contribution of a number of artworks form the backbone for an exclusive art acution in the Chicago suburbs on August 23rd. Featured artists include Jamal as well as other contemporary Bangladeshi painters such as Kanak Chapa Chakma and Moniruzzaman.

Here are some of the paintings Jamal is making available for the auction. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the artist, now in the US on a personal visit, may even stop into Chicago on the 23rd!

For more information or if you would like to attend, drop me a note on facebook or write info@chicago.drishtipat.org

- Rafiq

See the images below.

Sleepless in New York

Sleep has become a luxury for some of us in NY nowadays. It seems as if our every waking hour has become consumed with the thoughts of the Arnob concert. As I wake up in the morning, half groggy, there is an elusive thought which needs to be emailed to the concert planning group…. hurtling through the NY subway system on my way to work, I feverishly search my bag for a piece of paper for another idea that just has to be jotted down before I forget it… before going to sleep at night I send out a last email which is immediately followed by a response from Ben, Sharmeen, Zee, or Atiq which sets off another storm of emails.

The upcoming concert in NY has become our fascination, our obsession, our constant companion as we go through the motions every day. I am not yet sure how all of us managed to find enough time to devote to the concert planning but we have managed…somehow. Interspersed with days in the office, or at university, doing laundry, buying groceries, running errands, we have somehow managed to find time to meet twice or thrice each week as needed. We are in constant touch over email, or over the phone. Even when we meet for dinner, coffee, at addas, somehow our conversation shifts towards the Arnob concert. There is excitement, impatience, anticipation, frustration, dread, eagerness, certainty- our emotions have been swinging like a pendulum and I am sure it will continue to do so till the concert.

Just a little over two months and counting till the concert in NY… we cannot wait till October 25th!!

Drishtipat DC…it’s happening!

At first it was just a wish and then a talk…then it seemed like a rumor but at last it has proven to be true. This concert…Arnob coming for a world tour and Drishtipat organizing the events…no longer is it talk, or rumor…it’s seriously happening!

 

Here in DC our Drishtipat chapter has been meeting bi-weekly to make this concert the best it can be, and as most of the members happen to be friends outside of Drishtipat we have been talking about this constantly. Even during our addas and gatherings, birthdays, weddings, dressed up and dressed down, we have been planning, October 18, 2008 can not come any sooner.

 

We sent our Save the Date email out just yesterday and our inboxes are already filling up with inquiries, “Where can we get tickets?” “Will you please reserve a couple for me?” requests which can not make us any happier! DC Arnob concert tickets will go live in two weeks and we can not wait to sell them like hot cakes or plates of fuchka … “the anticipation is killing me” as Nadia keeps saying and as for me I am glad some rumors turn out to be true!

Our first press coverage

This is a good one.  So far we have focused on marketing on the web, but last week to our surprise we saw that there was a coverage of the tour in New Age.  Thanks for that.  But good old friends from New Age, made one boo boo.  With the news of Arnob, they have put in the picture of James and Friends.  OUCH!  But any coverage is good coverage.  So thanks for that Tanim.  If you scroll through to the bottom of the New Age piece, you will see the review of a concert by Sohini at Kozmo.  Sohini is one of the main attractions of the starting line up in the Arnob concert in London.  Not a single word  that Tanim has written about her is an exaggeration.  Sohini will rock the London show with her performances with Samay’s Saumik, Parapar’s Ollie and After Art’s Sajib.   But the best part is that Sohini is just one in the sizzling line up.  We haven’t even talked about Labik and Nobonita still !

Why are we doing this?

Today we went live with our London ticket selling through internet. As soon as we went public with the ticket selling site, there was a sale. We were psyched — only to find out that was actually a pending sale that I was trying out in that site. Oh well. Yesterday, Zub, Ahsan, Musfique came. Along with E and myself, we worked on the marketing strategy a bit more and got a lot done. Exciting news from Zub was that Ishtiak in Dhaka, a top ad maker, has agreed to make a 15-30 sec tv clip for this concert which we will be able to use for our TV ads. FANTASTIC NEWS! Zub immediately wrote to Andrew and Andrew swiftly got into action and is in the process of getting some tv clips from Arnob. By the time they left, it was 11. By then, I was getting ready for our conference call with the US organizers. The call was scheduled at 7 PM EST. Unfortunately for me, it meant 12 midnight. So the call went on till 1.30 am. Such is my life these days. Just barely surviving on 5 hours of sleep a day. But the conference call was a very positive one. We haven’t made any concrete headway in sponsorship yet. But everything else was looking good. Ben, Iqbal bhai, Rafiq, Sumaiya and myself encouraged each other and fed encouragement off each other to keep on going.

This concert preparation has been a very interesting experience so far. But in the end, we are hoping that this concert will not only showcase the talent of the best musician that we have in Bangaldesh, but also it will reintroduce Drishtipat to the audience. Drishtipat is a collective effort of an amazing group of passionate change makers who despite their extremely busy schedules, make time for activism. Over the past six years we have made small and sustainable differences. But most importantly we have created a platform for people to come in and do something different. We want to keep on doing that and we want to take our org to the next level. By reintroducing Bangladesh and its culture in the Western countries through Arnob and friends, we want to also change the perception of people outside Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country in resurgence. Bangladeshis are one of the most resilient bunch in the world. In spite of the many odds that are stacked against them, it is their most fundamental right to live with dignity, hope and honour. Drishtipat works to empower them so that they can achieve it.

Those of us who are working to make this ‘Unheard Voices’ Tour by Arnob a great success despite all the headaches, trouble and stress, we are constantly driven by this singular thought that work of each of us is making a difference. Now together with Arnob, Andrew, Nazia, Dhrubo, Jibon and Nazrul we will not only work towards making that difference, we will also try to break a lot of stereotypes people make about Bangladesh and its culture. Who is a better ambassador for it than Arnob – the face of a changing Bangladesh and the new generation — completely in sync with the past but moving forward through constant reinvention.

Arnob tour announced

ARNOB, the most talented indie musician in Bangladesh, embarks on a 5 city UK and North America tour in aid of humanitarian organization Drishtipat. This time with all his musical mates in tow, for yet another sell-out concert.

Arnob’s partners in crime this time are:
- ANDREW, brilliant jazz saxophonist
- NAZRUL, dhol artist par excellence
- DHRUBO
- JIBON
- NAZIA

Watch this space on a regular basis for more updates and announcements on the starting line up on each of the city. Tickets will be released shortly.