Foad Naser Babu

Eminent composer Foad Naser Babu is the bandleader and keyboardist of Feedback, a pioneering band in the country that got huge popularity during the 1980s.
In its journey of over 35 years, the band has produced 10 albums including  ‘Feedback’ , ‘Ullas’, ‘Mela’, ‘Joar’, ‘Bangabda 1400’, ‘Deho Ghari’, ‘Bauliana’, ‘Anondo’, ‘Ei Shatabdir Feedback’ and ‘02’.
Though a decade have passed since the band released its last labum ’02 in 2002, Feedback these days is appearing in live and studio concerts.
From his vast experience of over three decades in the band music arena, Foad Naser Babu talked about the ups and downs of his band and the music arena as well in an interview with New Age.
He blames the ongoing dispute between the Bangladesh Musical Band Association and the production houses on question of royalty sharing for not releasing any new album. ‘Many artistes going against the decision of the musicians have compromised with the production houses but we didn’t,’ said Babu.
However, Babu assured that a new album of Feedback will be released this year though he denied disclosing details.   
The seasoned musician observes that the pattern of the band music in Bangladesh has changed a lot in the recent years in Bangladesh keeping the pace of the contemporary western music.
‘Thanks to the technological development in the country, the young musicians these days are trying to follow the music of today’s western music, which quite different from that of three decades back,’ Babu said.
‘Many people also observe that these young musicians face more challenges that we used to face since everything is easy to get these days compared to our time. But, I want to mention just one thing in this regard: ours had to face a different type of challenge. And the challenge was to popularize the band music despite a huge criticism from the society and very limited resource for practicing and recording the music genre,’ Babu explains.
‘All the bands try to cope with the ever changing situation and so does Feedback. We are also trying to present more experimental music suitable for the contemporary audience. We are also concerned on our distinctive style,’ he added.
He, however, claims that the songs produced by his band in the 1980s were much more popular than the songs Feedback creates these days. ‘Band music brought a revolution in the 80s and 90s; therefore, many of the songs of that time got huge hit. Creating super hit song is really difficult in these days,’ Babu siad.