Saturday 17 December 2016

Features of Art and Entertainments



                   Is Puppetry Consider as a profession?


Zinnia Sheikh                                                                                              Sub-Edited by Ahmed Kalam Abdullah, Arnab Islam, Atoshi Ahmed
 

“The financial benefits have not reached that level and in future it will not reach that level too so the beginning was only hobby and till now it is my hobby,” said Al Amin, coordinator of ‘JOLPUTUL PUPPET’ with an aggressive voice.  

According to Al Amin, “It is tough to lead a life as a puppet operator in Bangladesh perspective at least in Dhaka city. I can only effort my pocket money as a puppet operator. If I can not do tuition as an alternative I can operate a puppet. It is like that. If I do tuition I will get 2000 to 2500 taka. So it is like I am playing with child also earning some money.”
Someone can not only take Puppetry as a profession. “To maintain a family this kind of situation is not create yet. In Dhaka city it is not possible. The original puppet artists are from outside of Dhaka or there have many short teams. Every year they have performed puppet dance in Nattoshala. They also could not profit enough. Our culture has not reach that level,” he said. 

Handmade puppet made by Ice cream stick
Photo- Zinnia Sheikh


He also said that He had started his Carrier at Eight years ago. Prothom Alo Published a Bornamala on 21st February. He did a puppet show and that was my first work. At first he had played two main characters those were Red and Yellow.  JOLPUTUL Puppet was trying to telecast the show as a cartoon on television from 2012. The financial condition has not changed so much. So the total economic condition had not changed in eight years. His personal identity had changed because he operate the puppet but not for the money. JOLPUTUL members had managed the money and took an office. They have invested their own money for the office. He would make a cartoon by Coma screen but the possibility for the profit is uncertain.
The funding for the puppet show is not satisfactory.  It is consider as one of the traditional entertainments of our country. But day by day it is disappeared for the funding. He stated, “An organization have called us for the work. They said puppet is a very artistic work and you are very talented. Organizations have not invested enough. We have inspired by his words and decided to do its work. When he said how much money you need to do this work?  Normally to set a new production we need 45000 taka only for one story. We had not demanded 40000 taka only for his work. I have already reduced 5000 taka. He said we do not have that much big fund try to consider more. I asked how much money you can invest. He said probably 10000 taka. I have watched him and think this is your artistic thought and your respect for the artist. That mean we are expressing something else but when it comes about the fund than the scenario has been changed.”
According to him, “I have demanded on the basis of the event. I am demanding 25000 taka for the birthday party. If they agree then I do the work but if they do not agree then I cannot disrespect my work. I am happy to do work for street child. This is enough for me. I am working under the institute. So I have to pay money to my coworkers. This distribution is not enough actually. If previous month I have paid someone 2000 taka then the next month I have paid him 3000 taka. So there’s no fix income. We were waiting 3 months for one show.”

Puppet show loses its popularity day by day. He noted that he had followed ‘Moner Katha’ by Mastofa Monwar. They need 50000 taka to make one character but they did not have much budget so they have tried their level best to create a character. They need plastic ball, spin, Table tennis ball, cloth, Plastic bottle etc. to make an each character. He had spent 2 months for draw an each character. They need 15000 taka to make an each character. If he demanded 15000 taka to the producer they have laughed at him and thought he is fraud. They thought they can buy a barbie doll on 15000 taka. He has made three realistic character of Scotland president for the Scotland election but the Producer did not pay any money for the work. So the work was non profitable. 


Handmade Realistic puppet 
photo- Zinnia Sheikh
“We have socks puppet, talking puppet, rod puppet. We have to make the new character and also pay the office rent. We have to pay 25000 taka monthly for the office rent also. We have the other organization which is ‘JOLOJ MOVIE’. We have produced short film, documentary, advertisement from ‘JOLOJ MOVIE’ for support the ‘JOLPUTUL PUPPET’. Puppet show is not enough for the office rent. We do not like to watch our own production cartoon. We love to watch Hindi cartoon, Daub cartoon. So our puppet show is losing its popularity. We have a show on Channel I. They did not pay enough money for the show. We had continuously worked on two nights. They had paid only 40000 taka to our 4 group members. This price is also not adequate to make one character. The new strategy is we will open a You tube channel and upload puppet show. We will make serial for the puppet show and for the serial we are writing script. If any producer reveal interest for the puppet show then it will beneficial for us,” He explained

“UCUB Bank advertisement UCASH was our height big budget work. We have earned 2,00,000 lakes through this project. We need at least 1, 00, 000 to 1,20,000 lake taka to create a production. The cost for making a drama and a puppet show is almost same. Only Human vocal uses for the puppet show so this is the main difference. Almost every television and You Tube channels thought that Puppet show is so cheap. They have offered very low budget for a puppet show. They do not understand that we need to do background animation, Graphics works, set up a Coma screen for a puppet show. They can not give us the proper respect. So it is better to work for the street child. We are teaching them how to make a puppet with bottle, cloths and other cheap elements. We are operating a free puppet show for them. When they smile it is enough for us,” Al Amin said with a victory smile. 

Puppet Show is one of the Bangladeshi Art. There was a time when puppet operator renowned for their profession. Day by day puppet operator lost the financial benefits because of its popularity. But it is our art and people can earn through the puppet show. We should save our art. 

                            





                     Do You Like To Color Your Body?



Atoshi Ahmed                                                                                             Sub-Edited by Zinnia Sheikh, Arnab Islam, Ahmed Kalam Abdullah                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
·          The tattoos on the history of the world for thousands of years old but not too old in the perspective of Bangladesh. Tattoo business in Bangladesh is very new and still it’s not that popular business among the people or even the artists whom have the ability to work as a tattoo artist. There aren't so many artists whom are involved in this business. In Bangladesh tattoo business is still not that acceptable as other businesses. The popularity of tattoo or having a tattoo on body is increasing among the all kind of peoples as well as the Young stars but still this business Can not see the path of light! 

Tattoo is a bit expensive artwork. This is one of the reasons why the tattoo artists can not get enough clients. Maximum time Peoples from middle class or lower middle class often can not do tattoos because of its high prices. The other big reason of not accepting tattoo business is our religion. People can not do tattoo, sometimes they want so but can not because of the fear of religion. 


Different tattoos have different meaning. 
Photo- Collected
 “Peoples from every class of our society came to me for tattoo. As tattoo is a bit expensive so they choose such kind of designs that is suitable for them or reasonable for them. The cost of tattoo is always depends on its size, color and the design of it," Said Moni Ahmed who worked as a tattoo artist for last few years. 

 According to him, “Most of the tattoo artists whose are now professionals, at first they started doing tattoo on their own body then they started doing it on others. But I do not have any. In our country parents did not allow tattoo for their son or daughter and the main reason is our religion. But still people are doing tattoos. They choose certain places which they don't need to show to their families." He also added that "when i started tattoo i never thought that someday i will take this as a profession. Because doing tattoo is always my hobby, my passion but when i saw that my friends started telling me that I am good at it i started to charge for it."

Every business needs a capital to start so do tattoo business. It’s not necessary to have lots of money to start this business. "When i started my business my capital was about 20 to 30 thousands. I got all my necessary equipment like tattoo gun, colors, needles with this amount of money. My studio is in my house so I did not have to pay extra money for this," Said Moni Ahmed

“When i started my tattoo business my capital was 30 thousands. It took 25 thousands for the whole set up like the equipment and rest were use for the decoration of my studio which is in my house." Said Arnob Farhan,  another tattoo artist of Bangladesh.
 The cost of the equipment which is necessary for tattoo is depends on the quality of it. The necessary equipment can not be found in Bangladesh. It has to export from other countries where tattoo business is very popular. "A tattoo gun can cost 2 thousands to 1.5 lakh. The full set up can cost from 10 to 12 thousands to 4 or 5 lacks and the colors cost will depends on its quality," He added.

"Tattoo was just a hobby for me! But as times going i thought that i could take this as my profession. When I started doing tattoo I was a student of East West University. I had to drop my semester for a tattoo course which I have done in Thailand. It was a one month course. It cost me around 40k Baths. This tattoo school introduced me with so many international artists that helped me in my career," Said Fuad Hassan, renowned tattoo artist of Bangladesh.


Can Tattoo have a good future in Bangladesh? 
Photo-collected
"I had opened my first tattoo studio at 2012 with a partner at Panthopath. It name Venom Tattoo Studio. It cost me around 2.5 lakh to open a studio. Booking money for the studio was 1 lakh and other decoration costs around 1.5 lakhs. I had my previous equipment which cost almost 1 lakh," He added.

"I have two tattoos on my body. One is on my leg and other is on my hand. I did my first tattoo on my leg. My leg tattoo cost four thousands and the hand's one cost five thousands which i did a few months back. In Bangladesh, yes tattoo is a bit costly especially for us students. Bit still I am happy that now there are amazing tattoo artists in our country which is good for tattoo lovers like us," Said Progga Noshin, student of ULAB.


"At first i had done the tattoo in 2011. One of my friend just learned how to do a tattoo. It was free of cost i just gave the cost of ink. You can say it was an experiment actually. At that time i actually didn't understand what's the impact is going to be. I wanted to do a tattoo on my hand but the design which i was looking for it wasn't that one. It was different. My family members couldn't able to find out about it because i had always tried to hide it till 2013. I was able to do that because i used to live in Dhaka n rarely visited them but in 2013 i became sick n health condition was so bad. At that time my father noticed it. He couldn't react because i was sick. I started to recover it in 2016 I meet a tattoo artist doing a new tattoo cost six thousands. But according to our society n religion i have listened that it's forbidden, prohibited. My prayers are not going to be accepted by Allah. Now I don't even care anymore," said Rahat Kabir student of ULAB from MSJ department.
 
"In Bangladesh there is no fixed line-up for charging a tattoo. It depends on the artist that how he or she wants to charge and what basis. But as our neighbour countries like Nepal, Thailand they cost tattoo as the basis of hours. So most of artists of Bangladesh also cost tattoo as per hour or inch of the design. For me it depends on the dimension and the design when i charge a tattoo," Said Moni Ahmed.

He also added that the things he noticed when he charge a tattoo is how much time it will take and how big the design is. For a 2 to 2.5 inch tattoo he cost minimum 5 thousands and there is no maximum amount of money i cost. It always depends on the time and the design.
"It is possible for a tattoo artist to bear the expenses of a family even if it’s the only profession. It is not hard for a good artist to income 1.5 to 2 lakhs in a month by doing tattoo. I am able to earn almost 1 to 1.5 lakh in a month. So if the tattoo business increase in Bangladesh it will be a great opportunity for us tattoo artists. If the tattoo gets more popular among the people it will be a great workplace for us," Said Arnob Farhan. 

Some artists cost tattoo only the basis of time. "In Thailand, Nepal they cost tattoos as per hour. They cost 3k for one hour. In our country 90 Percent clients are the new for tatttoo. So i cost tattoo 5 thousands for two hours. And of course it depends on the designs as well," Said Fuad Hasan.

Temporary tattoo is more famous than permanent one. People are more interested to do temporary tattoo than permanent tattoo. “Temporary tattoo is just the work of airbrush. I bought the temporary colors from U.S.A. people wants to do temporary tattoo more. The pressure of doing temporary tattoo increased in the occasions like Eid. The costing of temporary tattoo starts from two to three thousands," Artist Fuad Hasan explained. 

Tattoo business can help in the economy of Bangladesh if the government declare this business legal. “In 2013 I went to Nepal for a concert. As we all know Nepal is a very small country and their currency is poor than Bangladesh. Tourism is one of most important way of survive. There I saw that tattoo is one of most important business of theirs. In a road there were almost six to seven open tattoo stores or studios. As tattoo is an art, so there is a slight influence in every countries culture in it. If someday Bangladesh's tourism business improved and If Bangladeshi government declare tattoo as a legal business, maybe it can be possible that this business will improve the economy of Bangladesh.  Tourists can be able to draw Bangladesh's culture on their bodies. And it will help to increase the foreign currency, said Moni Ahmed. 

Tattoos have survived for thousands of years. All the tattoo artists of Bangladesh have hoped that even if not today the popularity of tattoo will increase someday in Bangladesh. And the path for the newcomers will smooth and this profession will be acceptable to all.



             The Struggle Of New Musician

ZinniaSheikh                                                                                                                          Sub-Edited by Ahmed Kalam Abdullah, Arnab Islam, Atoshi Ahmed

Entertainment consider as a part of business competition today. Music industry has a huge competition in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi music Industry is renowned for the popular musician but there are very few new musicians who have popularity. Young artist faces so much pressure to establish his or her music career. Young musicians are very talented but they treated much neglected and cheap musician in Bangladesh. The easy equation stands that if an young artist invest his money and time on this industry then he can get the priority and popularity. Talent is not considering as a highest priority.  

 Music industry actually controlled by the syndication this is the main reason behind the struggle of the new musician. If someone has a strong reference through the relatives then he or she can easily build up the career as a musician of this industry. Music industry demands a strong family reference or syndication reference because they can invest a lot of this industry too. Young artists actually demotivate to take the music as a profession. 

“Institution background demotivates the young artist. Institute teach us to take the music as a hobby from the beginning. You can not take it as a profession. There are two way to became establish as a musician either they are financially establish from the beginning then got musician or they became musician and establish then got the other stuff. Everyone wants to earn money because of the competition. No one wants to stay only as a musician because it is risky. A musician also involve with the other professions too either they can not survive because we do not know what will be our tomorrow," said Syed Nafis, New Young music director of L.M.G Beats.

“The main reason is our music market became a syndicate basis. If I know you then I can only support you or if I have a musician in my family then I am doing music by this reference. They do not give a shit what the musician produced. They will just see the hype. Actually level decides the trend. The trend should be on the flow of the talent but the trends actually decide by the audiences. They do not prefer the talent and give the main priority on the family preferences, family references or syndicator references. The full market is basis on the background not the talent," He added.

Singing a song in channel I
photo- collected

According to him, “Back in 2010 I have started doing my first album. I have 5 songs with my own lyrics. The main struggle starts from my family. I was a good student so my family always claims that why music. When they saw that I took it seriously from this they were giving me huge pressure to stop the music. Ultimately they believed that music has no future. My mom use to say that you need to invest money then you will get something through this music industry. It was impossible for my family to invest money. I have to earn my own money around five hundred taka to teach the guitar on class seven. So at the very early age I had involved on this music industry. Suddenly I offered to compose an album. I have invested so much time for making the first album composition. I have written the lyrics, directed the music. Also tune and composed the song but after realising the album I got no credit. I did not earn single money the composition. I have left to work with them."

“I have started work with L.M.G beats on 2010. I am working here on classical to rock for seven years. So the earning struggle is same. If I am doing a composition then I am earning if I am not doing any composition then I am not earning. The earning started from two thousands and last its use to get good line of eight thousands. There are many singers who can not sing but I am composing his song through the auto tune because talent has no value today. He became popular because he can invest money to the composer. I got around fifty thousand from this singer. This is the highest payment of my career. Second big payment was thirty thousand from another an aunty. So when I get project I earn but if I do not get project I do not earn. I have to think other alternative option. In the middle I was working as a radio jokey for earning. I have to work as a radio jokey because I need to earn and I have to promote myself because I do not have any references. Arnob came from an artistic family and he was financially strong so he does not have any tension to establish himself. He is doing an experimental song and people are accepting this. I am also doing an experimenting song but people will not accept me because I do not have any strong background. Promotion is a crucial thing. You need to promote yourself either you can not get popularity. You also need to hire a good journalist for yourself. So everything is connected with money. If you have money you will get the platform but if you do not have money you will not get platform," He explained. 

“Basically if are a vocal artist you need four basic instruments for the music because those are supporting your vocal. The instruments are guitar, piano, Tanpoora and harmonium. To buy each instrument you need invest ten thousand maximum. If you are starting music as a profession then you need at least two lakhs for it because of the studio, software collection and good PC to set up a good studio. At the same time the artist have paid to get work and also release the album. Even we have to pay fifty thousand for release our first album. Industry needs to search singer through your talent but actually the singer is searching to release the album by the money. The industry claims that we are new so we have not paid properly. I was working for Sanam puri so I offered to compose the song. I need an identity so that’s why I thought it is good chance for me. When the big organization heard the music they said it is a very good song and the composition is also so good.  But when they heard that I do the composition then their vocal has been changed. Suddenly the whole conversation has changed. Sanam puri directly called and so he was so excited to this song. Just because of my identity crisis I sacrifice the song for him because I am a new artist. According to the director Sanam puri took four lakhs from Bangladesh to sing a song. But  I did not paid a single money for the composition.'' He added. 

Picture of participate Reality show
photo-collected


He again states that he frustration in being doing his work but not getting paid or getting recognition. He has worked for movie (RUDRO THE GANG STAR), he was promised monetary payment but after finishing the director said as he has given them a big break and movie is a success, he will not give them any money. 3 things are necessary for success in Bangladesh. Those are producer, singer and marketing campaign. Running a studio is a loss project unless you get a producer. HE joined a media reality show on TV, contested and won runners-up trophy. Still no money was paid. Hopefully it might be paid in a year. For a singer you need to struggle but still you need to have talent also.












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