Miles (band)

Miles
Origin	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Genres	Pop rock
Years active	1978 - present
Labels	Sangeeta
Associated acts	Junoon, Euphoria, Silk Route
Members
Hamin Ahmed Manam Ahmed Iqbal Asif Jewel Syed Ziaur Rahman Turjo Schumann Zaman
Past members
See Band Members

Miles is a popular rock band from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is one of the oldest bands in Bangladesh, forming as early as 1978.

Miles currently consists of Hamin Ahmed on lead guitar, Shafin Ahmed on Bass, Manam Ahmed on keyboard, Iqbal Asif Jewel on guitar, and Syed Ziaur Rahman Turjo on drums. All members perform vocals save for the drummer.

From 1982 to 2006, Miles have released six albums. Among these first two were in English, containing both original songs and covers. Their first Bengali album, Protisruti, was released in 1991. Their fourth album (second in Bengali), Prottasha, came out in 1993 and sold approximately 300,000 copies within few months of its release and is still one of the best-selling album in Bangladesh.^[1] Their latest musical effort was Protiddhoni, released in 2006.

Band history

Early Years (1978-1981)

Miles was formed in August, 1978 with Happy Akhand on keyboard and vocals, Farid Rashid on bass guitar and vocals, Hamin lead guitar and vocals, Shafin rhythm guitar and vocals, Shahedul Huda on drums and Robin on keyboard and also vocals replacing Happy.

For the first three years, Miles performed regularly at Chameli Supper Club of Hotel InterContinental (now Sheraton).

In 1981 Kamal Moinudding joined as Drummer after Shahedul went to a foreign country.

Miles and A Step Further (1982-1990)

In 1982, they made their first public appearance on Bangladesh Television and performed their first live show in Shilpakala Academy premises in front on an audience of 1,500. In the same year, they brought out their first album - Miles. The album was in English and contained 3 original songs and 7 covers.

From 1983 to 1990, Miles played at the Sonargaon Pan Pacific Hotel's discothèque and coffee shop in Dhaka for six nights a week. In between, in 1986, they released their second album, A Step Further, which was also in English this time with 7 original and 3 cover songs. They also performed many solo and joint concerts during this time.

Protisruti and Prottasha (1991-1993)

In 1991, Miles released their first Bengali album - Protisruti. This album contained 12 original songs. This album launched the band to unprecedented popularity with a number of hit songs. The next year, they performed their first, and solo, concert outside Bangladesh in Bangalore, India. They performed three hours of English rock music before an audience of 7,000.

In 1993, Miles released their fourth album (second in Bengali), titled Prottasha. The album, containing 12 original songs, enjoyed record-breaking sales, with approximately 300,000 copies selling within few months, and is still the best-selling album by a band in Bangladsh. This led to many TV appearances and one-year sponsorship agreement with Pepsi Cola.

Best of Miles (1994-1995)

In 1994, Disco Recording, a Los Angeles-based recording company, released a compilation CD, titled Best of Miles. This was the first CD by a Bangladeshi band and is still the highest-selling CD in Bangladesh. They next performed their second concert in India. Again a three-hour rock concert of English music, this time in Chandigarh with an audience attendance of 5,000. The concert received high press coverage in India.

Miles also performed two concerts in Persian Gulf states of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Channel [V] and MTV Asia covered their concert and tour news.

Prottoy (1996–1998)

In 1996, Miles performed in India for the third time. This time it was in Kolkata and mostly Bengali songs were played in the two and half-hour concert in front of 7,000 audiences.

Prottoy, the band's fifth album, came out later that year with 11 original songs, all written in Bengali. The album sold high in Bangladesh, giving Miles their third consecutive hit. They then went on a two-month tour of USA and Canada. They performed in New York, Dallas, Oklahoma, Chicago, Florida and Montreal to audiences of 500 to 2500 people.

During 1997, Miles's songs received increased airplay on Indian FM radio and the band released their first single's cassette, Proyash. BBC later aired a number of Miles's interviews and popular songs. Also Miles's interview was published in Janomot, a Bengali newspaper from London.

The band performed in many charity concerts and throughout 1998, Miles again performed in Kolkata and made a number of music videos that were aired on satellite TV channels including MTV. Miles released a compilation album in India, titled Best of Miles (Vol. I). The perennial seller received huge radio airplay.^{[citation needed]} And six months later the band released a second compilation album, Best of Miles (Vol. II), in India. The two albums received great reviews in the local press^{[citation needed]} and Miles became well known to the young people of West Bengal, India.

Protiddhoni (1999-2006)

In 1999, in front of an audience of 35,000 people, Miles performed their largest concert in Chittagong Divisional Stadium. In the same year Miles added another guitarist, Iqbal Asif Jewel, to their line-up. They also performed the highest number of concerts in India by taking part in a concert held at Shibpur Engineering College, making it five performances.^[2]

In 2006, after almost ten years, Miles released an album, titled Protiddhoni.^[3]

Shafin's Departure and Comeback

On January 12, 2010, Prothom Alo published news regarding the departure of bassist Shafin Ahmed reportedly due to personal reasons. To his accordance, Miles is no longer a band of mutual respect, creativity and democracy. He also said he would pursue a solo career for himself and, apparently, sees no possibility of taking back his decision and rejoining Miles.^[4] His sudden departure has made quite the fuss throughout this music loving nation and pleads and efforts to bring him back has started.

After leaving Miles Shafin started his own band called 'Rhythm of Life' and he played guitar there. He played on numerous events with his new band.

Then on the Concert for 'Eliminating Violence Against Women', Shafin had rejoined the band in his old bass-playing post.

Musical style

Miles describe themselves as a pop rock act. "We have been inspired by blues, latin, jazz, rock and techno music," says Manam. "So our music is a combination of varied sounds and styles."

Band members

Current Line-up:

• Shafin Ahmed - bass & vocals
• Hamin Ahmed - guitar & vocals
• Manam Ahmed - keyboards & vocals
• Iqbal Asif Juwel - guitar & vocals
• S Z R Turjo - drums & percussion

Former members:

• Dip - bass guitar and vocals
• Schumann Zaman - Bass guitar
• Happy Akhand - keyboards, vocals
• Robin - keyboards, vocals
• Farid Rashid - bass guitar and vocals
• Larry Burnaby - guitar
• Ishtiaq - guitar
• Kamal Mainuddin - drums
• Shahedul Huda - drums

Other members:

• Khayem - bass guitar
• Milton - drums
• Mahbub Rashid - drums

Discography

• Miles (1982)
• A Step Further (1986)
• Protisruti (1991)
• Prottasha (1993)
• Prottoy (1996)
• Protiddhoni (2006)

References

1. ^ "Miles on BanglaMusic". banglamusic.com. http://banglamusic.com/artists/miles/. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
2. ^ "Miles news coverage". Anandodhara. http://www.bangladeshshowbiz.com/miles/miles_2yrs_191100p1_2.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
3. ^ "Miles Facebook Fan Page". facebook.com. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Miles/25457759512. Retrieved 2009-12-27. 
4. ^ "Shafin leaving Miles". Prothom Alo. http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2010-01-12/news/34204. Retrieved 2010-01-16. 

External links

• Miles Facebook Fan Page