Iftikhar Ahmed, a Bangladeshi musician living in UK, recently launched his music album. During a visit in Dhaka, the artiste spoke to The Daily Star.

Speaking about what made him go into the world of music, he said, "For me life without music is meaningless. It helped me overcome my grief when I lost my mother, to cope with my divorce. I can celebrate life with music. It has helped me discover inner peace. In the past 12 years I have been committed to promote the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent in UK. I was privileged to organise Ravi Shankar's concert in 1999. It was a dream come true, it felt like I had conquered the Everest!"

Talking about his teachers and the people who had encouraged and inspired him, Iftikhar said that his mother was very supportive. As a teenager he learnt Nazrul Sangeet under Bedaruddin Ahmed. He also took lessons from vocalists Bashir Ahmed and M A Hamid in the early '70s.

After moving to UK in 1985 he set up the Academy of Performing

Arts to promote Indian classical music and dance as an integral part of contemporary British multicultural scene. Today the academy is known in places like Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

Delving on financial support, he

said that they sometimes received grants from the Arts Council of England and that Kelvin Hopkins MPwas their patron.

Iftikhar's album that has been launched titled Tomakey Ekhono Bhalobashi is a collection of memo-

rable romantic songs from the '50s and '60s. It's about love, loss of love and the excitements and joys of falling in love. The artist said that he has tried to sing for lovers and for those who believe in romance.

Accompanying vocalist in the album is Sarmistha, an Odissi dancer. Sarmistha is from Kolkata while Iftikhar stays in England but the UK-based "33 Records" has made it possible for them to come together. "We artistes will always make the effort to collaborate when we share common interests and the commitment to achieve something," Iftikhar says.

Asked to talk about his particular preference in music, Iftikhar says that he is fascinated by songs of Hemanta Mukherji and classic Hindi songs from the '50s, '60s and '70s - a golden age when Indian music was ruled by brilliant composers like Madan Mohan, Shankar Jaikishan, Hemant Kumar (AKA Hemanta Mukherji) and S D Burman.

At present Iftikhar is fully involved with promoting Indian classical music and dance. He hopes to release two albums by the end of this year.