Online concert for music lovers

Ghaashphoring Choir is gearing up for their first ever ticketed online concert to celebrate one year of their debut album release. Amidst this pandemic, live concerts are not an option.  Hence, the choir is striving to deliver a show from home. And in order to do that, on October 31, they have arranged an online concert where the ticketed audience will get to enjoy a Ghaashphoring show after a long while.

Ghaashphoring Choir is known to be performing together with harmonic improvisations in the presence of a live audience. However, since that is not possible right now due to the pandemic, they have decided to give the audience an experience that is different from what is typically expected. The collective cohesion of the group is the main attraction to the fans. However, this time, they want to bring out the gems within the individuals. With that goal, the members, also known as "Phorings" will go solo. And on top of that, each individual will perform their own rearrangements of some of the songs from the album.

"We have spent the last couple of months, internalising the songs of our repertoire -- for some of the members to rearrange and make their own version highlighting their strengths. Though we are used to singing together, this time we arranged together, and spent six weeks giving each other feedback on our live/acapella/live looped version," explained Armeen Musa, the director of Ghaashphoring Choir.

Last year, they released their debut album called "Kichu Kotha Kichu Gaan" - which is also the title track and the only original song from the album. In addition, the album contained seven cover songs including classics like 'Aha Ki Anondo,' 'Prithibita Naki Choto Hote Hote,' 'Nishi Raat,' and many more. The album was well received among the audience and critics, and to commemorate the one year anniversary of that launch, this concert is being arranged.

The show will feature some of the members of the choir including Noor E Rezia Momo, Ayuon Islam,  Deepti Huq, Mahfujur Rahman, Oman Bin Parvez, Milena Sajjan, Ruthba Yasmin, Moinak Kanungo, and the director herself, Armeen Musa. Tickets will be worth Tk 250 with access to a Facebook group for the ticketed members, where the show will be broadcasted live. Ticket details can be found on their Facebook page.

Ghaashphoring Choir emerged in the music scene in 2015. Since then, they have been revolutionising the music industry of the country. They incorporate dozens of voices all blending cohesively in separate harmonic groups to produce vibrant live performances that immediately attracts the audiences. Add to that their unique arrangements and experimentations fusing contemporaries with classics, they are adding new dimensions to the music scene every now and then. And with this fairly new idea of an online concert, they are aiming to do the same again.

The writer is a student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at [email protected]