Miles Celebrates 30th anniversary

Thirty years earlier, at an evening show at Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka, some young musicians were covering classics from Rolling Stones, George Benson and Carlos Santana. They were singing just for fun, fame was not what they had on mind.

Thirty years on that group of musician friends is still doing music from the heart. In the mean time, some inevitable changes have happened. The venue has a new name, the friends are not young any more, and most importantly, they are hugely popular.

Miles, one of the pioneering Bangla rock bands, started its 30th anniversary celebration with reminiscing the good old days. The celebration took place at Hotel Ruposhi Bangla (formerly Hotel Intercontinental and Sheraton) on February 10. Former members of the band, including Farid Rashid and Kamal Mainuddin, covered “Satisfaction” (Rolling Stones), “This Masquerade” (George Benson) and “Roadhouse Blues” (The Doors).

As the concert featured history of Miles chronologically, on the stage, the band performed tracks accordingly. After the covers, the band performed an instrumental, “Meditation”, that the band played at its first public appearance on BTV. Then the band performed songs from its first public concert.

If the first part of the concert showcased its emergence into the music scene, the middle part featured a stroll with the band’s friends.

Bands that emerged when Miles was attaining recognition as well as up and coming musicians inspired by it, paid tribute to Miles through covering its numbers. They made homage in their own styles. Feedback’s cover of the mellow number “Jhalmaley Ek Bikeley”, as well as Warfaze’s version of “Ek Jhor Eshey”, wonderfully fitted their respective musical styles. Three other bands also covered Miles numbers.

Miles invited its friends from India and Pakistan to perform with them. Pakistani guitarist Mekaal Hasan and Indian percussionist Bickram Ghosh were on the stage at times, and they performed with the band’s current line-up. Mekaal’s outro to the song “Frustration” was one of the high points of the show.

Ghosh created some eccentric rhythm on his percussion during the song “Neela” that the audience cheered for. Mahbub, Miles’ drummer, from the 1990s, was on stage at that time.

The latter part of the show featured the current line-up, along with Mekaal and Ghosh together, on stage. They created some great moments with the ballads “Shesh Bikeler Aloy”, “Shesh Thikana”, “Eshona” [from the upcoming album], and “Phiriye Dao”.

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