Fuad al Muqtadir

Fuad Almuqtadir (Bengali: ফুয়াদ আল মুকতাদির; is a Bangladeshi-American music producer, composer, musician and singer-songwriter. Fuad's style of music incorporates fusion, folk, rock, pop and electronica. He has been one of the pioneering musicians to introduce a new style of music merging Eastern Sounds with Western beats and remixing. His fondness towards remixing music was merging the music that he had heard during his childhood due to the heavy influence of culture and language fostered by his family with his love of modern sounds. [1][2]

Fuad
ফুয়াদ আল মুকতাদির
Fuad (left) at Dhanmondi Club, Dhaka
Background information
Also known asFuad
Born (1980-08-06) 6 August 1980
Sylhet, Bangladesh
GenresElectronica, Hip hop, Rock, R&B
Occupation(s)Producer, singer, composer, music director
Instrumentskeyboards, vocals, guitar, drums
Years active2003–present
LabelsWest4, G-Series, Laser Vision
Websitefuadmusic.com

Early life

Born in Sylhet , Fuad's parents moved the entire family to the United States of America in 1988 when Fuad was only eight years old. Growing up abroad, parents typically go the extra mile to ingrain cultural values and a sense of heritage in non-resident Bangladeshi children and Fuad's parents were no different. His childhood was full of participation in Bangladeshi cultural events in New York City. Fuad's parents always discouraged speaking English at home, which strengthened his skills for the language and gave him a strong point of connection with the Bangladeshi music listeners. As a teenager, like any other NRB kids, Fuad led a dual life. He participated in the high school band and was part of a heavy metal band with peers called "Disillusion" with front man Andrew Janda, who also grew up to have a successful music career and is a part of a popular heavy metal band called "Metalfire". After school he would bond and jam with his Bangladeshi friends, Richard, Himel, Nayeem and Suman and joined a Bangladeshi cover band called "Zefyr" (1993). They recorded several tracks and before disbanding in 1999, they featured in fuad's first compilation albums called "Maya" and "Maya II" among the NRB community in New York. Last of three brothers, Almuqtadir moved back to Bangladesh in 2006 to pursue his passion for Bangla music and became a big name even before he reached Dhaka and eventually signed many record deals and collaborated with many like minded musicians in Bangladesh.

Career

His First 2 albums Maya and Maya II were distributed by a label fuad started with his friends Bushra Ahmed and Saiful Khandker. Without any knowledge about the industry they just made these albums and hand delivered them to music stores in Jackson Heights, NY. The music instantly became a big hit among young listeners and started to put Fuad in the limelight.

After Maya and Maya 2, Fuad created a band with Richard, Shihab, Upol and Anila called Kranti. Kranti was an alternative rock album with a lot of emphasis placed on lyrics unlike Fuad's previous pop productions.

Then came the game changer album called Re/Evolution. Almuqtadir shot to fame in the year 2005 with the release of this album which hit the music industry in Bangladesh, showcasing beats, melodies and mixes unique to the Bangladeshi contemporary music scene. This album also featured a lot of Fuad's Jamaican and west Indian friends. With the help of Sohel Aziz, a notable keyboardist from the band Obscure, the album came out in collaboration with both mainstream and underground musicians featuring 14 tracks which included original songs and remixes. Some of the notable songs in the album were "Sylhoti", Anila Chowdhury’s "Jhilmil", Armeen Musa's "Bhromor Koiyo" and the remixed track "Mon Chaile Mon". Not only did bands and solo artists crowd Fuad's studio for a production contract, several corporates and brands also signed up with Almuqtadir for jingles, theme songs and brand ambassadorship.

Fuad's Variation No. 25 was produced in 2006 and later two additional songs were added and the album was re-released as Variation No. 25.2 jointly by G-Series and Aarshee. Some tracks from the album were "Nobina" by Poonam (Nahar), "Nitol Paye" by Rajib Rahman/Fuad and Bappa Mazumder’s "Kono Asroy". Variation 25 was packaged in a campaign for NESCAFE. NESCAFE had already distributed close to a hundred thousand albums before the first album hit the stores for sale. in 2005 If you purchased Nescafe's coffee, chances are you got a free Fuad album.

Fuad's album Bonno was released in 2007 by G-Series. Some of the tracks from the album were "Tor Jonno Ami Bonno" by Upol Islam, "Bonno Rap" by Fuad/Bishop, "Junglee", "Da Dushto Number" and "Nitol Paye (Live)".

Fuad also worked on albums of Sumon & Anila titled "Ekhon Ami", Topu's "Bondhu Bhabo Ki?", Fuad ft. Kona, Fuad Ft. Mila and Fuad ft Shireen, Fuad ft. various artists "Kromannoy" which released in 2008. Fuad featured a number of famous singers and musicians in Bangladesh like Bassbaba Sumon, Mila, Topu, Shunno, Imran, Subho, Elita, and many more. Almuqtadir also lent his signature tunes to various products, brands and telcos such as 7Up, Coca-Cola, Nokia, Grameenphone, Airtel, and Robi just to name a few.

In 2012, Fuad toured Bangladesh, in association with Robi Telcom, to look for unique voices amongst the youth. The selected were then featured in a talent show on Maasranga TV in Bangladesh. Fuad was the judge and later produced an album with the winning artists.

In 2014, Fuad Almuqtadir had the opportunity to produce the theme song for the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup "Char Chokka Hoi Hoi"which was released in 20 February 2014 and was sung by an ensamble of vocalists, namely Dilshad Nahar Kona, Elita Karim, Pantha Kanai, Johan Alamgir, Sanvir Huda, Badhon Sarkar Puja and Kaushik Hossain Taposh. The song received mixed reaction and was widely criticized on the grounds that the lyrics and the subsequent music video did not adequately capture the essence of Bangladeshi culture. Despite this, the song became hugely popular in a short duration of time due to its catchy tune and energetic beat. A competition was held by ICC which invited students from the three host cities, Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet to create and submit their own dance videos helped popularize the song. The competition gave rise to flashmobs and performances in a number of major cities in Bangladesh and eventually the trend continued all over the world to New York, London, China and Russia well after the deadline for the competition. Due to its now-global appeal and signature dance moves, Char Chokka Hoi Hoi has been compared to other dance trends such as ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘Harlem Shake’.

In 2015, Fuad was one of the three judges of Fanta Band, a teen talent hunt show which took place in Bangladesh along with singers Jon Kabir and Elita Karim. Fuad judged teen singers who arrived from all over the country to participate in the competition and also co-wrote the final songs..... with Shakib Chowdhury. The song was eventually showcased at the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (FDC) along with the video featuring the winning teens. The video was made by .....

Fuad Almuqtadir is also one of the owners of Positive Hub, a recording/digital video studio- Digital Marketing company, located in Banani-Dhaka, Bangladesh. He was also working as a music consultant for one of the top radio stations in Bangladesh, Radio Foorti 88.0 FM. He currently works out of his studio in New Jersey where he continues to foster is love of music and working in Jingles, movie tracks and singles.

In 2017, Fuad made headlines in Bangladeshi newspapers and TV Channels for his video mimicking popular Rock band Miles’ front man Shafin Ahmed, where he used a Snapchat filter with a funny voice and stated that Shafin Ahmed claims himself as a "Legend" of Bangladeshi music. The video was uploaded on his official Facebook and said to have been in good fun but the video went viral shortly after and was followed by another video by Shafin Ahmed, voicing his anger. A few days and a few headlines later, it was exposed that the entire ordeal was a promotional gimmick for their new collaborative song called "Legend" where Fuad featured Shafin Ahmed, and rapper Towfique.

Fuad has signed in a non-exclusive deal with North Star Music UK and LAB HITS, a company based out of Los Angeles, CA that provide music for TV/Film and Advertising. Recently, his compositions, were used in the popular TV shows such as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", "Total Bellas", "This Is Family", "Rob and Chyna", "Bad Girls Club Season 17", "Chachi Gonzales's World", "So Cosmo" and "Real World: Go Big or Go Home."

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References
  1. "Fuad Al-Muqtadir chats to Ameet". BBC Asian Network. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  2. "GTV Fanta Band Top 5 in the making!". The Daily Star. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2016.

Further reading

Media related to Fuad al Muqtadir at Wikimedia Commons

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