Best of the Web: Amadergaan.com

Amadergaan.com came from humble beginnings. In the early part of 21st century, it was merely a chatroom on the IRC network! It served one simple purpose - as a place where people would gather and talk about music. From there came a site with a forum in 2002 (or a bulletin board system or BBS as it is usually called), and some downloads of bangla music. These combined to make a pretty good recipe for success for Amadergaan.com which to its loved ones would later be known as 'AG'. After 6 years of existence, it still holds some of its first generation members, plus has hoards of new ones who are keeping the forums alive with its members' camaraderie, banter and most of all, love of all kinds of music. Hence it boasts the fitting tagline of "From Baul to Rock".

The founders of AG are Safwan and Faysal. Faysal first started the IRC chatroom while he was a student in Canada, and it was there he first met Safwan, and this is the start of the history of the site we see today. From chatroom, to a social site, they transformed AG finally to become an enterprise.

Let us first go over what AG offers its guests and members. Go to www.amadergaan.com to face the site's homepage, and there, you get an account of news from the world of music, which can consist of the new albums releasing or being worked on in a studio somewhere in Bangladesh or abroad, to news of concerts, interviews of artists, etc. Its does well to deliver on the world of music when there is not really any other source as well organized as AG.

There is a wave of a different kind flowing through the world of music in Dhaka and other urban cities for variations of rock and heavy metal music, which is classified as 'Underground' music due to its lack of support from the mainstream music industry. For the followers of such music, there was really only one option at a time, which was AG. AG is thus home to a lot of musicians now pretty well known to bigger circles, like members of the alternative rock band Arbovirus, or the now very famous producer Fuad Al Muqtadir. So, AG is also a place to keep up with the offbeat trends in urban Bangladesh, which now even includes 'Electronic' and 'Hip Hop'.

In the 6 years of its existence, one could say that AG went through a transition into adulthood, replacing its free music download section with an online shop for Bangladeshi music. This stems from a realization that our local artists need the support we can provide them by popularizing their works. That does not happen until their CD sales go up. AG has placed itself in partnership with almost all the big music production organizations in Bangladesh, e.g. - G Series, Ektaar, Sound Machine, Rage Records, Bengal Music etc.This partnership allows AG to bring these music to the audience outside who do not readily have the opportunity to pop into a local music store and buy the CDs. Locally, we are not able to purchase music online due to a lack of availability of credit card services necessary to do so, but stopping the free downloading at least forces us to visit our local stores to get the CDs. To help us make our minds up, AG provides previews of tracks from upcoming albums in their Media section. You can actually still find some free stuff in their Downloads section of Media, where there are the items not holding any copyrights restrictions. The Audio section loads a music player with a play list that has previews or teasers you might call them, of upcoming albums, and sometimes, even Demos of songs as they are being composed. The Video section is scarce, but still holds a collection of rather interesting clips, one of which if you visit soon enough is Babna (of Warfaze fame) playing some enchanting flamenco in a studio somewhere! There is a section for Articles also where you can find reviews of shows, albums, and articles from actual music reporters.

AG had another ambitious project, which was to create and host websites of a multitude of music artists. Though this didn't see the light of day fully, it was a noble effort and I hope someday we'll get to see these sites in their full glory.

AG's two creators live and work in Canada, and the level of information you see on AG would not have been possible without the team working on the grounds here in Bangladesh. This team also, was selected from none other than the forum of AG. If anyone needs proof that man is a social being, I'd welcome them to this forum. This has been an active place of communicating with Bangla music fans scattered all around the world, since its inception. And over the years, it has spread its premise from music, to culture in general, technology, to user contributed content like poetry, blogs, artworks and recordings. The best way to go about the forum would be to browse through the categories on the forums' main page. One would have to become a member and log in to access all the sections of the forum however.

Apart from the reviews of albums, and concerts in the Articles section of the site, the forum has its own section for reviews of this kind, but contributed by its members. There is also a section where concert organizers announce upcoming shows, and the members can respond to the selection of artists to perform, or the venue and other such detail not possible without a forum of this kind. Also, artists (or their friends) can come and announce upcoming releases. It’s not uncommon for member artists to upload demos to gather early comments or just for the purpose of sharing. As mentioned before, some famous and semi-famous bands and artists are part of this forum. Probably one of the most public figure to have become a member of this forum is Maqsoodul Huq AKA Mac, an artist and once the singer for the very famous Feedback (remember 'Melay Jaire'?). Here members found out how articulate and passionate this man is about music, and writing. Also among the public figures who are members of this forum is singer and TV presenter Alif Alauddin who takes feedback on her TV shows from the other members. So the forum is home to artists from the famous end of the spectrum to the obscure end of it, all using a common platform to voice out their opinions, experiences and dreams.

Debate is also one thing that happens frequently on the forum. So, the social interaction is not just on a level of entertainment and fun, but also intellectual; and it gets edgy at times. Issues like copyrights, and whether the artists actually benefit from the sales of CDs, to whether adopting western music styles lead to the tarnishing of one's own culture, to much more serious topics of local or world politics, or social issues. On occasion AG's members have even gathered themselves for social action. The most successful of this was organizing a concert in 2003 to raise funds for the then ailing great artist Abdur Rahman Boyati. Meetings were arranged from discourses within the forum, which later translated to physical meetings and then a massive line up of artists performed for a whole day playing 3 to 4 songs each to honor and help Abdur Rahman Boyati at the Shilpakala Academy.

Amadergaan today through its partnerships play a huge role in promoting music related events on the web. Next time at a concert, you should check the event banners or the ticket to the event to see if you spot the AG logo, with the saying Web Partner above it. Sometimes, the artist's Thank you note inside the album sleeve has a mention of Amadergaan. This goes to show the rising level of significance of this entity which was once just a chat room. AG in its 6 years has risen to great heights, and I wish it success in continuing its rise to provide its guests and members even more things to enjoy and hold dear.

Technology.Art.

Where is the line between art and entertainment? Between a masterpiece and a screensaver? A complex, algorithmic, evolutionary art and a fractal?

There has been a lot of interplay between technology and art, so as to move the relation from just using technology (for example, Photoshop-like software) to produce art, to the technology being an actual component of an art piece, to be the paint, as it were. Photography at its early days took a long time to be accepted widely as an art form, and this fact may seem strange to a lot of us at present. But how many of us would really appreciate the art that is now being made where the technology is like the paint on the canvas of the art? Also there are cultural, social and technological factors here if we look at the places where this art has flourished and are being nurtured.

Its still not so widespread and the critics and thinkers are now still struggling to give it a name. Digital Art? New Media Art? Software Art? Generative Art? There are many names, many variations. The medium's conspicuous role in the totality of an art piece is now the root of the need to term it with some indication of these new media that have come along. Maybe as the new media finds a common place in the world someday, they will blend into the general description of the word ‘art’.

Artists have produced art using technology as far back as 1960s. For example, Jean Tinguely is one sculptor who focused on making metallic, mechanical sculptures that could move, and one that was designed to destroy itself (Homage to New York, 1960). Robert Rauschenberg was another artist who filled an aluminum tank with mud and had an apparatus put in underneath it by which bubbles were made on the mud that was again synchronized with sounds being played on site (Mud Muse, 1971). And since the computer was being conceptualized, those who had imaginations and creativity that allowed so, it naturally started using computers and other emerging digital technologies in their artwork. Many of the art forms now take on the form of installations with sound, graphics, video, sensors or some combination thereof.


Techzine Wired's September issue did a feature of Steve Sacks who has opened up a gallery for this different art form in New York, named Bitform (http://www.bitforms.com), and is soon to open another in Korea. Christiane Paul, adjunct curator of New Media Arts at Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) has a book titled Digital Art that tries to explain, and document this phenomenon with the use of various examples (complete with illustrations) of the work done in this area all throughout. The book is well laden with these examples, illustrations, and descriptions and will challenge the newbie's imagination and raise questions or fascinate. Yearly events where one might see this kind of art on display are the ACM SIGGRAPH Futurama (USA), and the ARS Electronica (Austria).

There is one thing here that a lot of artists try to overcome from the traditional arts, that is its static nature. Art could be put on a wall or a pedestal, and the only interaction the viewer could engage in with the art was mental. Now with digital technology available, the artists can devise more interactive art. The user can now physically interact with the art, or participate with it to make it complete. For example, an installation was setup by Australian artist Jeffrey Shaw which gave a new view of New York city. There, a person would have to sit on a static bicycle and pedal to set in motion the images on a screen in front of the person. The pedaling and steering creates the sensation of moving through New York's cityscape, but with the buildings replaced by words that are characteristic to the city (Legible City, 1989).

There is also the generative and evolutionary software art that incorporate principles of evolution, artificial life and generally, algorithms to create art forms. Generative art has been defined as “any art practice where the artist creates a process, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other mechanism, which is then set to motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a complete work of art.” by Philip Galanter, who is also working in this field.

Artists never want to confine art to its medium. From drawing pictures on walls of caves, to stone to paper, from using pencils, to paint to charcoal, to using bits of paper and other elements around us as in collage techniques, mixed media, the scope increases. And the internet now is no different. From doing artwork involving text, manipulating the art of narratives and creating collaboration between participants; to using what has to be offered by the multimedia support of the WWW, and the event based model of websites; artists have moved fairly well into this area. Especially the artists with intentions of activism found it a very good platform for their work, a platform where information could be distributed freely.

In the end, art has remained art, forever changing, forever in flux, presenting itself in new forms and testing the boundaries of thought. I much prefer leaving the determination of something as art to those who present it. Whatever name we give this new form of art, its still 'art', just in a new space, with new elements.

Suggested Reading/Browsing:
http://www.rhizome.org
http://www.pixelache.ac
http://www.whitney.org/artport/
http://www.jeffrey-shaw.net/
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/
http://www.f2fmedia.net/

References:

Digital Art (Paul, Christiane, 2003)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/sacks.html
http://www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/phase3/main_frame.html


Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZcSX4_b3Wo

About the Video: Presented at the ARS Electronica 2006, this chair breaks down, and then locates its broken limbs by using sensors and robotics to build itself up again. The performance by the chair fulfills the senses of the viewers as would a movie. This is a work of Artist Max Dean, along with a computer scientist Raffaello D'andrea and a mechanical engineer Matt Donavan.

Activism in Music

There is a certain amount of cynicism attached to the “Peace Love and Understanding” motto of the Hippie generation. That movement was very involved with civil rights issues and to protesting the US government’s involvement in war in Vietnam. At that time, Joan Baez and many others became representative of a voice of protest against an establishment that was sending a portion of its youth out to a war that wasn’t theirs. Nick Lowe retorted to the cynicism with “What’s so funny about Peace Love and Understanding” (a cover of this is on A Perfect Circle’s last studio album titled Emotive).
Activism represents a consciousness – a general consciousness of our surroundings. A lot of people, when talk of politics come out, treat it like the dirty word it has become through years of abuse by its practitioners. Sure, it’s a corrupt premise, but all the more reason to take an interest in it to try and make it better. Activism can be about politics, about the environment, about moral issues and so on. It has to do with believing there is a need for action for a cause, and acting on it and bringing other people in on the journey.
As for musicians, they have the obvious medium at their fingertips, and a very successful one at that. Luckily, some are aware of that power.

In 1939, Billie Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit”. A special arrangement was made to record the song since her existing record label did not want to take responsibility for doing so. The lyrics for the song was written by a Jewish schoolteacher by the name of Lewis Allan, and the song spoke of the lynching of African Americans, a common racial crime of the period. Speaking out against racial discriminations and for racial equality at that time was a scary prospect even for a white man. And being a black person in that role could very well mean death. Still Billie Holiday took that chance and the song became the anthem for protests against lynching.

Today a musician’s activism has many faces. In the era of multimedia, it could not be any other way. The artists today can release music like before, plus can speak to their audiences in large stadium arenas during concerts, speak on tv, channel ideas through music videos, and the last, but definitely with the widest reach, they can use the internet to spread ideas. Of course the bit about television and popular media is a bit tricky in case the cause is not one the owner, or advertisers would not endorse. The safest bet is then the Internet. As far as I have seen, many bands are using that medium to the best.

Try to remember Bono, without U2, and with some unlikely crowd some years ago. He was hanging out with the politicians! His cause was to get debt relief for some African countries, and he got somewhere with his approach. Most musicians are however not that interested in hanging out with the men. Or prefer to go through more conflicting paths. Rage Against The Machine, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Incubus all have sections on their websites that deal with some causes. Incubus has made a separate foundation called the Make Yourself Foundation and Pearl Jam’s Activism section has a list of organizations that work with youth and arts, the environment, healthy eating and public schools, keeping commercialism out of public schools and community health. Rage Against The Machine has of course defined their purpose in this world in their name. They spent their years and all their energy in writing protest songs. And now that they have disbanded, their site still exists with a list of the causes they support. Tom Morello himself is quite involved in these. Zach de la Rocha, the songwriter for Rage, has put into words the anguish and the emotions of his consciousness on the issues of racism, fascism and greedy manipulations by powerful corporations of the west. They, as a band, had also played once to raise money for lawyers, investigators, and other legal costs for the trial of a man who was imprisoned without a trial. R.E.M. is a band that hails from a small quiet place in USA and they have awareness for the environment. Michael Stipe recorded few songs and raised money for Mercy Corps that helped the victims of hurricane Katrina. Those who helped on the album include James Iha (ex-Smashing Pumpkins) and Chris Martin (Coldplay). Chris’ band, Coldplay, also endorse a lot of causes on their websites. One of them is Make Trade Fair (Oxfam), the same words that Chris had written on his hands and was visible when the cameras filming the concerts zoomed on him to show him playing the piano. Quite a way to get something noticed! System of a Down shot a very simple video that surely represented their stance on the War on Terror. It was simply footage of them and others present at a rally protesting the war. The song was titled Boom. A Perfect Circle’s release of Emotive during the present times of war with renditions of the classic songs of protest and war (including a haunting version of John Lennon’s Imagine and the aforementioned What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding) also speak of their mindset now.

Of course there is risk involved in case the popular sentiment goes against what the artist has to say. That may be why a lot of artists may also choose to stay silent or appear apathetic. Consider the debacle involving the Dixie Chicks. They stated to a London audience that they were ashamed that George Bush was from Texas! A really risky move considering the factions who support the president and those that are categorically country music fans overlap very well. This caused their listeners to go into some activism of their own against the country band in the form of boycotts and public destruction of their discs. Post 911 was/is difficult for the people of USA and during the first war on Afghanistan, Bruce Springsteen, the man who criticized the US’ Vietnam agenda in Born in the USA, made a comment to the press saying that the people should support the president in the war. But come election time, he was out there, touring and rallying support for John Kerry who was running against Bush. That campaign also saw Eddie Veddar (Pearl Jam) in support. The election also saw the rise of an anti-Bush campaign in the form of a competition for 30 second political advertisements, titled Bush-in-30-Seconds. The judges included Jack Black (Tenacious D), Moby, Stipe (R.E.M.), Veddar and many more from other walks. As we know now, success is not guaranteed in activism.

The organizations that directly work with a cause, realize the power of a popular artist’s voice, and they have been frequently borrowing them to further press their causes, from arranging fund raising concerts, to holding concerts to raise awareness on an issue, to lectures from an artist at conferences, concerts and other events. The Spitfire Tour was organized in 1998. A celebrity helper was Zach de la Rocha (Rage Against the Machine). The idea behind the tour was to go to different campuses and other venues to hold talks on issues ranging from the environment, agricultural reform to censorship and corporate powers. The speakers included politicians, writers, people from the film industry, and of course musicians. Amnesty International is also using musicians to promote their causes, and some of the bands already mentioned so far are already helping that out. The initiative is being called Music For Human Rights.

Incubus is one band that has opened their own organization. They named it Make Yourself Foundation (named after their successful album title Make Yourself) through which they raise money for different causes they support and publicize other efforts like the Music For Human Rights of Amnesty International. The money is raised mainly from their touring, their record sale, and auctions held through the website of items like concert tickets, the band’s old gear and other items. Tom Morello (Audioslave, ex-Rage Against The Machine) and Serj Tankian (System of a Down) also run an organization, which they call Axis of Justice. The website states: “Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice.”

Locally we saw a movement worthy of praise from the members of the online forum (primarily about music) Amadergaan.com when it came forward to raise money for Abdur Rahman Boyati’s treatment on October 2004. On that occasion famed musician Maqsoodul Haque (ex-Feedback, Dhaka) was also in the boat and one of the strong hands. It was an extraordinary coming together of fans and musicians, with a lot of bands performing without payments. This, however, shifted the activist role, from musician to the music fans. Next to writing songs with an activist spirit, the next easiest thing artists can do is play live for a cause, and thus, help such movements to a success. We have seen lots of initiatives like this, and at this point The Concert for Bangladesh does need mentioning. Just like Ravi Shankar went to his musical friends for help in raising funds for Bangladesh, the friends of Meraz (bassist for Black) went to theirs to help raise money for his treatment after Black’s tragic accident on April 2005. Fund raising concerts are not uncommon, but they are usually ad-hoc and not organized centrally within a body of people as this.

Our artists serve greatly as voices of reason, and sometimes, also with that activist edge. Different Touch criticized, and presented the general criticism of politicians, and the people through their song satirically – “Ei mon chay, ekbar ami minister hobo, … shunsi naki minister-ra air condition pay… ”. Maqsood (ex-Feedback, Dhaka) in his solo album Prapto Boyoshkoder Jonno Nishiddho went for pretty sharp and direct criticism of the cat and mouse (or if you see any comedy inherent in it, Tom and Jerry) politics of our major players. Going further, back in time, our bauls did the same with issues of society, religion and all else.

The general tendency among local artists is that they are usually prepared to take part in concerts to support a cause, but not really act to on their own accord to be active in any arena, be it politics/society. Granted that the music industry in our locale is not as prosperous or lucrative as in the west, money is not the principal element for an activist. The heart and the voice must be in it, with the power to influence and inspire.

Best of the Web: Distorted Designers – Digital Community of Digital Artists

http://www.distortedesigners.com

Kind words are often spoken out of the urge to not hurt someone’s feelings when judging the works of others in any field. However, holding back proper, constructive criticism can lead to cultivating mediocrity. An end product has to be criticized just enough to make one feel inspired or pushed to elevate himself to a higher level or genius or perfection. I can hear you laughing, yes, its easier said than done. You can find this kind of honesty is harbored in a community of online digital artists that is called Distorted Designers.

Distorted Designers is an inspiring place for both its visitors and its members. Even people outside the realm of digital design will find themselves surrounded by intriguing mix of colors, swaying lines and imagery that pleases the senses. The membership is open to everyone, just find the Register link and fill up the form to get full access to their forum which is a treasure chest of information. It’s a community devised to increase the interaction between all the people involved in this field or preparing to do so. Non-designers can still get a very satisfying experience from all the content that is open to all.

Digital design is not a well established field here in Bangladesh yet. There is a lot of demand for it due to the appearance of multiple satellite tv channels, software companies, the increase in the use of the internet, and special needs for industries like real estate and architect firms for animated visualization of their projects, etc. Make no mistake; this demand is being met very well, but mostly by self-taught, maverick designers, most of them with almost no institutional training. In this scenario, a community site for designers provides a much needed platform for exchange of ideas, and know-how.

At the heart of the community is its forum where the designers share their work, knowledge and also their processes. That shows through in the face of the site, its homepage, as the forum is mentioned in some detail. The layout of content in the homepage is also done with taste, showcasing some of the samples of its members’ works in a large banner. Also noticeable are its efforts to display some advertisements from companies looking to hire designers. Looking around the center of the page is the Designers and Top Rated section of the page, where the more involved members are highlighted. To appear listed as a designer on the homepage, one must show 5 completed works inside the forum. This simple condition ensure that exposure is given to the more experienced and more active designers. And the administrators of the site go through the works in the forum to select and present some of the convincingly well done pieces of work in the Top Rated section.



A non-member faces some restrictions in the forum, with not all sections being open to them, but outside that, the content viewable without membership is highly commendable. The Done section is possibly one that you wouldn’t want to miss, since it’s the section where the members actively submit their finished works. Works range from caricatures, to cover design of music CDs of recording artists, from eid cards to 3D graphics, and even logos. A lot of the members are working graphics professionals and have a lot to offer in terms of quality of work and obviously industry knowledge, a lot of them are working also for self-satisfaction but equally knowledgeable. There is also a good amount of conceptual artworks here also, the kind of projects that a designer might not be able to necessarily do on a job at the office. So expect to see some things out of the ordinary, some things going out towards the imaginative genres of traditional art like abstract or surrealism, and some things that might be designs of products from the future. All this has been put under the title ‘concept art’ usually in the world of design, and you can get a taste it right here.

Probably even more interesting, at least to me personally, is the section – Sketches & Works in Progress. Here you can take a look at works in different stages of completion. Its members are abound with comments, both praises and suggestions for their fellow members, be it a completed piece of work or something in its earlier stages. The Critique Center section of the forum exists especially for those who are really eager to get opinions of the other members of the forum for a particular project. As it says on the description of the section: “Be Honest, be helpful, be straight-up, be true, and share your ideas about how to make better art/design”.

I mentioned many times the sharing of knowledge as a major advantage of this community. Its not achieved, however, through just one section. Its spread all over the Done section, Critique Center, Sketches & Works in Progress and many others. So, to browse or search through the site would be an enlightening experience.

Under the heading Tricks, Tweaks and Tutorials, there are a lot of help to be found for those looking for it. The members had proactively contributed a lot of articles on different techniques, and as it says on the title of that part – tricks and tweaks. This is also the part where the members can post their questions, and the other members dive in to provide assistance. This part has three sections – Design which deal with the design issues people have, especially on the usage of software like Illustrator and Photoshop which are the most popular worldwide in this arena; Animation – which is now a popular way of decorating websites, for promotional videos of products, and even training games and demos; and Web Development – for the website designers who work with code like HTML, PHP etc.

I hope you had visited this site, and had a great time looking through all the activities that go on there, and enjoyed the artwork from the Distorted Designers.

Quotes:

When the true colors cover the true Sky…that’s named Rainbow; which come from true haven. Like this way…A true design comes out from a true heart; which based on true feelings…isn’t it true? We the DD pupil appreciate the sentiment of true heart; which is the base of our creative work…so a smart designer can make a smart design...

Iqram Ahmed
CEO
CreativeGeek


A great place to communicate with other designers

K. Zahidur Rahman
Senior Graphic Designer
KAZ Software

It’s really an exceptional designer community for all Bangladeshi creative designers. It’s nice, well organized, new concept in web community. I wish all the very best to the DD and congratulate for its great initiative.

S.M. Shabbir Hossain
Senior Creative Engineer
KAZ Software


First of it's kind here in BD...and finally too! What a great way to showcase your talent, hard work and learn from people working in the same field and best of all bringing all the creative think-tank under one roof !!! :)

Dhanad Islam
Web Designer
Therap Services, LLC.