Soothsayers, the band from South London, came to liven up the international music festival in Dhaka which ended on Saturday at Sultana Kamal Women Complex in Dhanmondi. The band performed on both days of the festival.
The members of Soothsayers include Idris Rahman, a Bangladeshi expatriate living in UK on saxophone and vocal, Robin on trumpets, Julia on vocal, Kush on bass, Wesley on drums, Kishon on Rhodes organ and Phil on guitar.
The band, featuring a mix of reggae, Afro-beat and urban jazz, recently spoke to the New Age about their visit to Dhaka.
‘This is the first time we played in Bangladesh and it was a lovely experience!’ said Robin Hopcraft. ‘I heard Baul music in YouTube before. But meeting the Bauls and Lalon musicians live was really a very different and pleasant experience,’ he added.
He further said that while England had a rich mixture of different music of different origin, here in Bangladesh the scene is somewhat unique and spiritual, especially in the case of the Bauls. He appreciated the Baul musicians for keeping the old heritage undistorted.
Soothsayers began their journey almost 12 years ago. The band had worked with prominent Jamaican singer Linval Thompson, reggae’s longstanding champion Michael Prophet and another reggae hero Jonny Clarke, UK-based singer Mellow Baku and many other prominent figures.
Their album titled ‘Tangled Roots’ containing songs like Blinded Souls, In the Beginning and others gave the band recognition. Another album titled ‘One More Reason’ had also gained a lot of popularity amidst the reggae, funk and all sorts of music fans.
The band is looking forward to visit Bangladesh again and stage more concerts.
