The very first thing that popped into my mind after I heard her song was ‘NO WAY is she a Bangladeshi singer?!?!’ The youtube profile info says “Bangladesh”, so I was definitely mistaken! It was purely unbelievable- anyone can mistake her to be an American singer, given her unique looks and spectacular voice. Well, her Youtube page said otherwise, and that is how I came across a true talent, Xefer Rahman- Bangladesh’s solo female Rock and Pop artist; with the voice, plus the looks!
During a têtê-à-tête* with this young artist, I came to know how she came across this talent of hers. “I was never trained. I was 17 at that time, and was pretty much into hip-hop. I wanted to start something different, and tried rapping. It didn’t go as planned. One day, I was trying to sing, and ended up recording Dido’s ‘Thank you’. My family members and a couple of friends heard it and were impressed, since they never heard me sing before. Their words of inspiration motivated me, and I started to sing. I was really into rap before, and I had no idea that I would sing!”
So how did she switch to Rock and Pop? Apparently, she had also been practicing singing to Evanescence songs at the time she was into Hip Hop, and that is how she came to choose Rock. Pop was a random selection; she chose to cover rock songs after she had covered a few of them.
Her recently released cover, “E.T.” by Katy Perry, was pretty popular among her fans. They are very happy with her tracks, but of course, haters will hate, and people will find faults. Many falsely accused her of a “fake voice”. So what is Xefer’s say on this? “For the people who keep on saying that I am lip-synching, I just want to say that there are a few videos where I record first and then do the lip-synching, and there are also recorded videos of my live performances. If they watch the live performance videos, I’m sure their confusion will be cleared.”
Xefer has upcoming plans of making originals, and she is waiting to buy a condenser mic. So after the purchase, the fans will be getting a series of Xefer originals, and less of the covers. But on the long run, she has no special plans whatsoever. Since the Bangladesh music industry prefers Bengali as the mainstream, she would rather stick to her current methods, and stick to being solo rather than joining any other bands.
Thumbs up, Xefer! You got the voice, and you got the look as well! But on this Bangladeshi context, where dreams of female individuals are always suppressed, don’t you feel uncomfortable? Well, she thinks that since we live in a male-dominated country, many males don’t really like the idea of a woman standing up for something. “But I don’t really care- I do it for myself and for those who love me”, says Xefer.
So how does it feel- the love and support from fans? Xefer says that “it feels amazing”, and that the positive feedbacks and the good comments motivate her to get better. Whatever she is doing, it’s only for the people who love her music.
After a question-answer session, and sharing a few laughs, I brought up the topic of her Youtube channel. Why Bangladesh when you can easily pull it off as a foreigner? And she explains, “When I opened my Youtube channel, there wasn’t any Bangladeshi female. So yeah, since I wanted to make videos, I opened one, which clearly stated that I’m from Bangladesh, because I wanted everyone to know that this is where I am from. I also wanted them to know that there are eligible singers in Bangladesh, and since they wouldn’t understand Bengali, English was a good option. Surely enough, people asked me about my country.” Indeed, she proudly presented her country on an international context, and has been successful. Problem, haters?
Click Here to Check Out Xefer Rahman’s page on Facebook.
Click Here to Check Out Her Music on Reverbnation.
Click Here for Her Official Youtube Channel.
Click Here to check out Youthsparks on Facebook
*têtê-à-tête: A Private Conversation
