Feedback Completes Fifty Years: New Album, Fresh Arrangements of Old Songs and a Documentary in Year-Long Celebrations

Feedback is a familiar name in the history of Bangladeshi band music. Over five decades the band has given listeners popular songs such as 'Mousumi', 'Mela', 'Chithi', 'Moyuri Akash' and 'Fire Esho'. Although members and musical styles have changed over time, the bond with listeners has not weakened.

A witness to many stages in the development of Bangla rock music, the band is now set to celebrate its golden jubilee. To make the five-decade journey memorable, Feedback has planned year-long events including a new album, old songs presented in new arrangements and a documentary.

Through the new album, listeners will get new songs from the band after a gap of 11 years. The band has already prepared six new songs. Members do not want to reveal details yet; they want to surprise listeners by releasing the songs one after another.

Not only new songs — Feedback's old popular songs will also be released in new arrangements, Foad Nasser Babu has said. Members of other bands or solo artistes may lend their voices to those songs. Through this, the band wants to present its songs afresh to a new generation.

There is also a plan to make a documentary of about 25 minutes on the band's five decades of history. It will feature former and current members, tracing the band's long journey, the members' experiences and various chapters of their musical lives.

Foad Nasser Babu says they have no sky-high or overly ambitious plans; they will proceed considering the overall situation. But listeners love them for their songs, so they want to celebrate the 50 years through songs.

To mark the occasion, a press conference has been organised today, Saturday, at 4pm at the AS Mahmud Auditorium of the Daily Star Centre in Dhaka's Farmgate. Current members will present the golden jubilee plans there.

Feedback's golden jubilee events will begin with a concert in Chattogram and end in Dhaka. The closing event is planned for October 2027, the month the band completes 50 years. Before that, the band wants to join listeners in celebrations through events across the country.

Feedback's relationship with Chattogram is long-standing. In 1979 the band first sang there at the centenary celebrations of Chattogram Club, and performed a public show at the Muslim Institute. Concerts there followed year after year. By Foad Nasser Babu's count, in some years Feedback performed 12 to 14 shows in Chattogram; altogether the band has sung at more than five hundred concerts there in 50 years.

Speaking of Chattogram listeners' love, Foad Nasser Babu says they have performed all over the country and in Chattogram too, and their popularity is greatest in Chattogram. Fans still come for autographs and photos when they step out on the streets there. In their words, Chattogram is lucky for Feedback.

The band's journey began in 1977. Several members of the band Ultrasonics joined with a few new music-minded people to form Feedback; the initial name was Feedback Twentieth Century. Founding members included Ershad Moinuddin Popsi, Murad Rahman, Selim Haider, Zakiur Rahman and Foad Nasser Babu. At first the band covered popular foreign songs; an invitation to sing regularly came from the then Intercontinental Hotel, where Feedback performed three days a week until 1987.

On 25 September 1979, Feedback held its first open concert at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, organised by the Leo Club. In 1981 the band recorded its first song, 'Ei Din Chirdin', for a BTV magazine programme. The first album, 'Feedback', came from Sargam in 1985, followed by 'Ullash' (1987), 'Mela' (1990), 'Joar' from Kolkata's HMV in 1992 — the first time a Bangladeshi band released an album from HMV — and later 'Bangabda 1400', 'Dehoghari', 'Bauliana', 'Ananda', 'Ei Shotabdir Feedback', 'Shunno 2' and 'Ekhon' (2015).

Many musicians have been associated with Feedback over the long journey. Current members are Labu Rahman, Enam Elahi Tonty, Raihan Hasan, Foad Nasser Babu, Mohammad Danesh and Rabiul Alam Real. The band has won the 1995 Jaijaidin Best Band Award and the 2017 RTV Best Band Award. But for Foad Nasser Babu, the biggest achievement is the listeners' love; through the golden jubilee's blend of new songs and old memories, they want to make that bond last even longer.