Anika Rashid Khan:
Growing up in Dhaka, Anika just finished her A Levels from BIT and is currently enjoying gap year. The daughter of a woman who loves singing just as much, she started singing at the age of 3 and was even classically trained. The first song she picked up on her guitar was The One That got Away by Katy Perry. Her favorite Bangladeshi artists include Shireen Jawad, Zohad Chowdhury and Runa Laila alongside a lot of local underground bands. She started performing in 2017 at Cuppa Coffee and went on to continue from there. Jatra is quite a regular performance spot for her. It’s where she’s undoubtedly the most comfortable performing at. She plans to make a lot more covers and release her own songs along with a music video by the end of the year. And she can’t wait for what’s to come!
Fairooz Nazifa:
Fairooz Nazifa started singing when she was 17, and has become a youtube favourite over the past couple of years. The first time she performed in front of a live audience was at Bangladesh Brand Forum’s 10th Anniversary and has been winning hearts ever since. She prefers a minimal crowd because she believes it’s easier to vibe with the energy of six to seven people. This especially helps because she makes up songs on the spot when she performs! From making her first cover video with a ukelele borrowed from a friend, to making waves with renowned musicians like Fuad and Samir Hafiz on live television, Fairooz has made everyone around her immensely proud. Her interests are found in anything with creative input and output which explains why she studies Media and Communication under the film and TV stream at the Independant Univeristy of Bangladesh.
Mahdiyah Naim Murad:
Born and brought up in Dhaka, Mahdiyah currently studies in Aga Khan School. Coming from a family where her paternal aunts, grandmother, sisters, grandfather and father all either sang or played instruments, music is basically in her genes. Winning the AKS Idol Competition on a wild card entry also helped get things into perspective for her. It all started from singing at family functions which prompted her to be trained by her father and eventually by Ustad Rafi and currently by Ustad Salauddin Shantonu. She has garnered widespread popularity with innovative covers of local and international hits over the past 6 months and plans on covering more songs before releasing her own music. It’s a journey she can’t wait for!
Murtafa Mridha:
Studying in International Turkish Hope School gave him the privilege of going to Turkey financially supported by the school to sing. He also had the chance of traveling to Sweden and Denmark for music but it seemed that none of that had made him realize how good he was. Music had come back to him in 2016 almost after 10 years at TARC (a residential program mandatory for all Brac University students) when his friends pushed him to pursue his passion. When he stood second at a competition hosted when Ron Bumblefoot Thal came to Bangladesh, his life changed. This led him to open and close shows with the ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist who he’s still in touch with. While his own band, Thunder took flight in February and are currently working on their debut album. Murtafa has also had the opportunity to represent his country and university in Biswamil 2018(a cultural event held in India that also hosts music competitions), where the club band managed to bring back two titles.
The Brac University Cultural Club plays an integral part in Murtafa’s life. The club is where he met two of the members of his current band and got the oppportunity to tour different universities singing with some amazing souls. He currently humbly attempts to return the favor by acting as its General Secretary.
Sharar Shayor:
His school life was spent in Wills Little Flower and he’s currently a student in North South University. Professionally, he seems to have too many titles. He’s the bassist for Headline and Attic and a Radio Jockey at Radio Foorti. He has been pursuing music since he was in class 8. The first song he ever picked up was Barcelona by George Ezra. His favorite artists range from Muse to The 1975 to James Bay to name a few internationally and Nemesis & Indalo nationally. His first public performance on his own was back in 2016. He plans to perform his own compositions with some musicians hopefully by the end of the year or 2020 at the latest. For the future, he has plans with both his bands but also wants to hit the studios with his own songs and release two by mid 2020. Playing for two of coolest young bands in Dhaka must be a tough job to keep up with, but Sharar handles it all gracefully.
