A celebrated Bangladeshi pop-singer and song writer Pritom Ahmed made his first solo appearance last Friday (24 June) at the Rich Mix theatre, London . He was accompanied by his London-based band members – Chris Ray on Electric Guitar, Lakis Ecomou on Bass Guitar, David Biteli on Saxophone, Ollie Usiskin on Drums and George Webster on Keyboard. RadhaRaman Society, a leading platform for Bengali music in the UK hosted the concert in partnership with Rich Mix.
With a brief introduction by Rosalina and the band manager Smrity Fami, the concert launched two of Pritom’s brand new albums ‘Bokasoka’ and Pritom’s own take on Tagore with Western poetry. Then, he began to perform his popular renditions ‘Bangalee’ Balika Tomar’ one after another.
The curator of Radharaman Society poet Ahmed Kaysher introduced Pritom and his music in an inaugural speech. He said “Pritom is a real rock-star and one of the rare performers in Bangladeshi popular music who have been composing and performing his own songs for last 23 years.”
Pt. Chiranjeeb Chakraborty, one of the finest Indian classical singers in the UK attended as an audience there and said, “I enjoyed all the way through, specially Pritom’s new concept and the powerful as well as engaging verses he wrote and performed”.
BBC slam champion poet David Lee Morgan dubbed Pritom as “Powerful and committed revolutionary artist”, too.
In his brief reaction, Pritom said “I am having a new beginning here in the UK and Europe. My songs, fortunately, at the top of charts in Bangladesh and loved by all different spectrum of audiences there. I, now would like to sing at the global stage for pure European audience here in the UK. I am sure they will love my compositions, too, if I have more chances to perform in mainstream art-venues.”
