They are number two on the charts, but it isn't likely they'll get much airplay on MTV. Still, number two with the release of their first CD is something to cheer about.
The song, titled "Shishu" --about a child who dies and how her family copes with the emptiness and sadness her death brings--has been rated number two on the television show "Ganer Hat," a popular music program on the national television station ETV.
You won't find the album by Odrishsho in many outlets in the United States, but you will see posters, advertisements, bumper stickers, and other promotional items for the band in Bangladesh, the home of the three principal artists of the group. Odrishsho, translated to English, means invisible.
"We have received quite a few emails from fans," said Yasir Mehboob, a Grinnell College student who sings and plays keyboards. "It's nice to know that people listen to our songs and spend so much time with our music. We have some people telling us that they can relate the songs to their own lives."
Selling their music wasn't a primary goal for the band members. At least, not at first.
"We initially didn't care about producing our music commercially," Mehboob said. "We thought we would do our best, given the time frame of about three months (summer break) and, if all else fails, we would just listen to our own songs at home."
But things took off, fast. Both Yasir and Tehsin Rashid, on guitars and vocals, are students in the U.S. Mehboob is a senior at Grinnell College and Rashid is a law student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The other member of the group, 42 year old Javed Ahmed, guitars and vocals, is a senior musician in Bangladesh.
"As we were getting done with our recording, we managed to have an advertising firm -- Madonna Advertising -- do the marketing for us and a company called Gitanjali to do the distribution," Mehboob said. "We also launched three music videos."
The videos are what got Odrihsho noticed. Viewers of the program "Ganer Hat," got to vote on the top three songs of the current week. The first week the song reached number three. The next week it moved up one notch to number two.
Sales of the CD, which have been on the market for only three weeks, have been brisk, according to the distributor. But band members have yet to receive any solid numbers. Still, number two on the charts in your home country, a music video or two, and fans who send fan email half a world away is still pretty good for most college seniors.
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