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On to stardom on the strength of her stunning east-meets-west voice, Mehreen is a talent who moves easily from oriental classical to styles locale to her country and beyond. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh on October 30, she is the symbol of successful Scorpions. She is an MA in English Literature from the Dhaka University. She has completed her Honors from the same institution. Well versed in Bengali, English and Hindi Mehreen has taken training in classical vocal for almost all her life plus Tagore song, Nazrul song, folk song, mystic and modern music. For a fair portion of her life she had been in the West Indies, in the sunny island of Trinidad and Tobago, for which reason the calypso is her soulmate and is readily reflected in her vocal style.
She has been pursuing her music career since 1994 when her talent was recognized while singing Lambada at a friend's party. Soon after she decided to bring out something unheard of in her locality - a style that does not match the cliched style of sweet melodious voice with which oriental voices are associated. She took 6 long years to release the debut album ANARI in the year 2000. Even before the tape was released the title track made her a sought after artiste and an instant heartthrob because of reviving the pop scene in the country. Thus the track Anari initiated the neo-pop trend, missed by the pop lovers for the past decade. The heavily promoted album was a hit not only in her country but in the neighboring countries as well.
My first recording in Malaysia
Mehreen’s singing capability was first discovered at a friend’s party (ria’s). She sang bangla and international numbers such as lambada – the then international hit, and must kalander. Right that night she was proposed to work on demos leading to prospective pop boom in the land.
Mehreen’s singing training started, as she says, before her birth. As her sister used to learn oriental (north Indian) classical music at home, her orientation with music was from the first days of her life. And thus her access to the music was automatic. She was discovered to be a marvelous harmonium player when she was not even four. She first began primary sargams from Ustaad Pulin Dey. Then she moved on to chchayanot.
The story of her first day there at chchayanot she fondly remembers. Her mom took there to be admitted, understandably, at a primary class, since she was only seven then. Ustaad Mithun Dey was sitting afar while she was being tested. He called her to him. And readily took her to his class as the youngest student of first year classical section. It was her bad luck, she says, that she got him only for a few months as he fell ill soon after.
Her early life was a bit of here now and there then. But music was always with her. Her portable harmonium was with her, representing bangla music worldwide at a tender age. She aspired perfection unknowingly from then on. It was during her visit to the West Indies when she joined the school choir as a member of the senior choir.
She has always been under the guidance of her music teacher and very much believes in music to be “guru mukhi”. She was an active musician at school (viqarun nisa noon) and college (holy cross).
Till today she has had the privilege of being acquainted with stalwarts in Bangladesh like, Ustaad Shudhin Das, Ustaad Abdul Latif, Ferdousy Rahman, Ustaad Omar Faruk. This has increased the horizon of her capabilities to an unprecedented combination. She knows the hardcore folk to Tagore, classical to Nazrul. Till today she is taking vocal lessons of various genres of classical music, and wants to continue learning for as long as she lives. Of coarse, she says, learning for a musician is throughout every moment and second that she lives and meets each and every person in day to day life.
Mehreen pursued music but never thought of stardom. She waited for the right person with her first demo until she met the “murderer” trio. They together created the revolutionary album “ANARI”. This creation was regarded as the revival of pop music when it was first played in 1999 on channel i. This sparked pop music for the second generation of pop artistes and gave birth to the “neo-pop”. This fact fetched Mehreen a lot of awards including the highest recognition among public awards “the Ononna” award for bringing in a new genre of musical presentation. Not only in genre, Mehreen first represented the newness in presentation also. Her music video Anari was a favorite play of the then popular private channel “channel i” – and thus a constant hit. It was played at a continuous stretch from 1999 october to late 2000 and is still a beloved hit on the screen. This boomed pop music as well as Mehreen as the in and hot artist – the pop princess for ever more.
Till then she has released three solos with at least a dozen hits for the local market. Anari, Dekha Hobe, Mone Pore Tomae. Debdash, Dola, Radha, etc are some of her mixed albums. Watching her mark and potential, she was made a Pepsi star, the first female to become so in the country, after the success of her debut ANARI. Mehreen was also the featured artist on the Sangeeta VCD “pop queen” which has become one of the all-time best selling VCD’s in Bangladesh.
Mehreen is now a household favorite. Her public appearances include open-air concerts in the capital as well at venues all over the country and beyond. She has been one of the first Bangladeshi pop artists to go live on international channel Tara bangla from the Nazrul Manch in kolkata. She is also a marked name at the regional MTV pop charts, besides her constant presence at the local channels including the national channel BTV.
She has been the favorite artists at all the Pantene “you’ve got the look beauty pageants”, other award shows, open air lives, charities etc. having performed already at uncountable concerts so far. She has shared stage with Indian star artists Shaan, Jojo, Babul Supriyo, Vikings, Onjon Dotto, Bhumii etc, at local stages and internationally.
Mehreen this year responded to international invitations and with huge success for herself and acclaim for her country. She was the only representative of the new era at the indo-bangla kala music award 2003 held at the Manhattan center New York besides star performer the living legend Runa Layla from Bangladesh. She was invited by the ministry of tourism, govt of Bahrain to perform for the Bangladeshi community there on the same stage with star performers from India and Sri Lanka. She was the artist to be invited by the ministry of tourism, govt of Malaysia to record a song for promotion of Malaysian tourism. This was a track composed by an internationally acclaimed Malaysian composer and voiced by artists of 10 other countries. Mehreen voiced the Bangla track; the recording was done in Kuala Lumpur; Malaysian Airlines and the Malaysian Tourism Ministry sponsored the trip. This was her first recording outside Bangladesh. This was released as VCD in 2001.
She was the first ever pop performer to be included in a government trip to perform at stages in Pakistan, Thailand and Burma.
She has recently performed at the biggest gathering of Bangladeshis living in the UK, the Boishakhi Mela, at brick land, London, in presence of 56000 people. And have received numerous invitations to perform at UK and US, including the prestigious Fobana. One has so far been finalized by the artist which is a two week long tour of the UK, including a show at the Mela, the biggest show for the subcontinent music lovers after the Fringe Festival. She has been the first Bangladeshi artist to be invited, along with her team of musicians – the Anaries, at the Edinburgh Mela. Edinburgh Mela is a huge get-together of people from a wide diversity of cultural and geographical background. Founded in 1995 by members of Edinburgh’s Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi communities, it is a dazzling display of international and local talents.
In September 2003, Mehreen went to Bombay, one of the first pop performers to shot videos for MTV India, the Bangla regional MTV. The videos are currently being aired on Tara Bangla.
Past:
• Miss bang 1st runner up 1996.
• International Mr. and miss university beauty pageant 2nd runner up 1995.
• English presenter for State programs for the Bangladesh shilpokola academy, the national academy of fine and performing arts since 12 years.
• Host for one of the most popular celebrity game shows shophol jara kemon tara.
• Host for eid anondo mela for national channel BTV for two consecutive years and rated the most popular in recent years.
• News caster, on national TV channel BTV and national radio.
• Host for world music, external service, home service, national radio Bangladesh betar.
• Host for letter reply for English service, external service, national radio.
• Ramp model.
• Jingle performer for one of the most popular jingles in the country, keya super lemon soap, which has bagged most of the awards for three consecutive years.
She has been pursuing her music career since 1994 when her talent was recognized while singing Lambada at a friend's party. Soon after she decided to bring out something unheard of in her locality - a style that does not match the cliched style of sweet melodious voice with which oriental voices are associated. She took 6 long years to release the debut album ANARI in the year 2000. Even before the tape was released the title track made her a sought after artiste and an instant heartthrob because of reviving the pop scene in the country. Thus the track Anari initiated the neo-pop trend, missed by the pop lovers for the past decade. The heavily promoted album was a hit not only in her country but in the neighboring countries as well.
My first recording in Malaysia
Mehreen’s singing capability was first discovered at a friend’s party (ria’s). She sang bangla and international numbers such as lambada – the then international hit, and must kalander. Right that night she was proposed to work on demos leading to prospective pop boom in the land.
Mehreen’s singing training started, as she says, before her birth. As her sister used to learn oriental (north Indian) classical music at home, her orientation with music was from the first days of her life. And thus her access to the music was automatic. She was discovered to be a marvelous harmonium player when she was not even four. She first began primary sargams from Ustaad Pulin Dey. Then she moved on to chchayanot.
The story of her first day there at chchayanot she fondly remembers. Her mom took there to be admitted, understandably, at a primary class, since she was only seven then. Ustaad Mithun Dey was sitting afar while she was being tested. He called her to him. And readily took her to his class as the youngest student of first year classical section. It was her bad luck, she says, that she got him only for a few months as he fell ill soon after.
Her early life was a bit of here now and there then. But music was always with her. Her portable harmonium was with her, representing bangla music worldwide at a tender age. She aspired perfection unknowingly from then on. It was during her visit to the West Indies when she joined the school choir as a member of the senior choir.
She has always been under the guidance of her music teacher and very much believes in music to be “guru mukhi”. She was an active musician at school (viqarun nisa noon) and college (holy cross).
Till today she has had the privilege of being acquainted with stalwarts in Bangladesh like, Ustaad Shudhin Das, Ustaad Abdul Latif, Ferdousy Rahman, Ustaad Omar Faruk. This has increased the horizon of her capabilities to an unprecedented combination. She knows the hardcore folk to Tagore, classical to Nazrul. Till today she is taking vocal lessons of various genres of classical music, and wants to continue learning for as long as she lives. Of coarse, she says, learning for a musician is throughout every moment and second that she lives and meets each and every person in day to day life.
Mehreen pursued music but never thought of stardom. She waited for the right person with her first demo until she met the “murderer” trio. They together created the revolutionary album “ANARI”. This creation was regarded as the revival of pop music when it was first played in 1999 on channel i. This sparked pop music for the second generation of pop artistes and gave birth to the “neo-pop”. This fact fetched Mehreen a lot of awards including the highest recognition among public awards “the Ononna” award for bringing in a new genre of musical presentation. Not only in genre, Mehreen first represented the newness in presentation also. Her music video Anari was a favorite play of the then popular private channel “channel i” – and thus a constant hit. It was played at a continuous stretch from 1999 october to late 2000 and is still a beloved hit on the screen. This boomed pop music as well as Mehreen as the in and hot artist – the pop princess for ever more.
Till then she has released three solos with at least a dozen hits for the local market. Anari, Dekha Hobe, Mone Pore Tomae. Debdash, Dola, Radha, etc are some of her mixed albums. Watching her mark and potential, she was made a Pepsi star, the first female to become so in the country, after the success of her debut ANARI. Mehreen was also the featured artist on the Sangeeta VCD “pop queen” which has become one of the all-time best selling VCD’s in Bangladesh.
Mehreen is now a household favorite. Her public appearances include open-air concerts in the capital as well at venues all over the country and beyond. She has been one of the first Bangladeshi pop artists to go live on international channel Tara bangla from the Nazrul Manch in kolkata. She is also a marked name at the regional MTV pop charts, besides her constant presence at the local channels including the national channel BTV.
She has been the favorite artists at all the Pantene “you’ve got the look beauty pageants”, other award shows, open air lives, charities etc. having performed already at uncountable concerts so far. She has shared stage with Indian star artists Shaan, Jojo, Babul Supriyo, Vikings, Onjon Dotto, Bhumii etc, at local stages and internationally.
Mehreen this year responded to international invitations and with huge success for herself and acclaim for her country. She was the only representative of the new era at the indo-bangla kala music award 2003 held at the Manhattan center New York besides star performer the living legend Runa Layla from Bangladesh. She was invited by the ministry of tourism, govt of Bahrain to perform for the Bangladeshi community there on the same stage with star performers from India and Sri Lanka. She was the artist to be invited by the ministry of tourism, govt of Malaysia to record a song for promotion of Malaysian tourism. This was a track composed by an internationally acclaimed Malaysian composer and voiced by artists of 10 other countries. Mehreen voiced the Bangla track; the recording was done in Kuala Lumpur; Malaysian Airlines and the Malaysian Tourism Ministry sponsored the trip. This was her first recording outside Bangladesh. This was released as VCD in 2001.
She was the first ever pop performer to be included in a government trip to perform at stages in Pakistan, Thailand and Burma.
She has recently performed at the biggest gathering of Bangladeshis living in the UK, the Boishakhi Mela, at brick land, London, in presence of 56000 people. And have received numerous invitations to perform at UK and US, including the prestigious Fobana. One has so far been finalized by the artist which is a two week long tour of the UK, including a show at the Mela, the biggest show for the subcontinent music lovers after the Fringe Festival. She has been the first Bangladeshi artist to be invited, along with her team of musicians – the Anaries, at the Edinburgh Mela. Edinburgh Mela is a huge get-together of people from a wide diversity of cultural and geographical background. Founded in 1995 by members of Edinburgh’s Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi communities, it is a dazzling display of international and local talents.
In September 2003, Mehreen went to Bombay, one of the first pop performers to shot videos for MTV India, the Bangla regional MTV. The videos are currently being aired on Tara Bangla.
Past:
• Miss bang 1st runner up 1996.
• International Mr. and miss university beauty pageant 2nd runner up 1995.
• English presenter for State programs for the Bangladesh shilpokola academy, the national academy of fine and performing arts since 12 years.
• Host for one of the most popular celebrity game shows shophol jara kemon tara.
• Host for eid anondo mela for national channel BTV for two consecutive years and rated the most popular in recent years.
• News caster, on national TV channel BTV and national radio.
• Host for world music, external service, home service, national radio Bangladesh betar.
• Host for letter reply for English service, external service, national radio.
• Ramp model.
• Jingle performer for one of the most popular jingles in the country, keya super lemon soap, which has bagged most of the awards for three consecutive years.
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