The indigenous all-female band F Minor gave a rocking performance on the Nazrul Stage of Dhaka Lit Fest on Friday at 11:00am.
F Minor’s main vocalist is Pinky Chiran. Nadia Ritchil provides side vocals and plays the ukulele. Akiu Marma plays keyboard, Dina Chicham plays cajón, and the lead guitarist is Glorya Manda.
F Minor performed three songs. Their first was the rock number Shomosto Raat Nijer Shonge Aari. The song begins on such a melodious note, that listeners perceive it as a soft rock song. However, when the energetic vocalists of F Minor sing out the chorus, the audience did not fail to grab the moment.
The second song was a very soothing Chakma folk song titled Ekkore Ekore El. F Minor finished their performance with the widely recognizable song Lal Paharer Dese Jao. Many in the audience sang along with the band during this performance.
This was the second appearance of F Minor in the Bangla Academy, but first ever performance for the Dhaka Lit Fest.
Vocalist Pinky Chiran told Dhaka Tribune Showtime: “We began our journey as a band with three members. Our founder is Jadu Ritchil dada. Antor Sku is the co-founder. Both of them together initiated the journey of F Minor on October 28, 2016. So we celebrated our birthday a few days back. (laughs)
“Initially Jadu dada and Antor used to help us a lot. Eventually, they encouraged us to practice and compose songs on our own. So while we were doing a lot of shows, we decided to practice with the indigenous musicians. Then we found our final members from those practice sessions.
“Our founder Jadu Ritchil has become a little busy with personal work. So there are five of us in the band currently,” Pinky added.
Regarding the songs they perform Pinky said: “We are an indigenous folk-based band. We always try to perform those lost indigenous folk songs, which are not heard as much as before. We try to present them in a new way. We also try to retain the tune and style of those traditional indigenous songs, such as pala songs of the Garo community and Chakma songs. We also made some original Bangla songs.
“Furthermore, since we are an all-female band we try to sing songs about women, and especially the life of indigenous girls,” Pinky added.
F Minor is currently working on an album. They have set themselves the target of having eight songs on the album. Pinky informed that four songs have been already made, and if the remaining songs are completed soon, then the album may be released next year.
