Nowka Bais Theme Song

 Nowka Bais CIC, Charkon, Sheikh Dina & Neel Kamrul

Nowka Bais has been taking place in Birmingham since 2015 and has become one of the largest Bangladeshi cultural events in the UK. The main boat race attracts 18 teams, with rowers dressed up in colourful uniforms as they sing and dance to Bangladeshi folk music. There is also a live stage where Bangladeshi songs are performed by mainly local Bangladeshi artists. 

This project to create a Nowka Bais theme song brings together Bangladeshi vocalist Sheikh Dina and composer/musician Neel Kamrul with Birmingham band Charkon, and features keyboard and vocalist Lukman, guitarist and music composer Ron, bass guitarist and vocalist Leena and drummer and percussionist Fahim.

Listen to the song on soundcloud here

The full music video is coming soon!

Birmingham has the second largest Bangladeshi community in the UK but there are very few known artists from Birmingham. Whilst there is talent and potential, this collaborative project provides a platform for local artists to showcase their talent to the wider community both in the UK and Bangladesh.

Nowka Bais is the traditional form of dragon boat racing held in rural villages of Bangladesh after the monsoon rains and reflects many of the customs of the country.

With Bangladesh's geography being dominated by the world's largest delta, the country has over 230 rivers in its terrain. The rivers have played an important role in the livelihoods of the native Bengali people. Common in rural areas, Nowka Bais is a very old tradition of Bengali folk culture going back and the use of Sari gaan (a traditional form of folk music in Bangladesh and are usually sung by boatmen) has started to become more popular. Nowka Bais is extremely popular in the Sylhet region after the rainy season when much of the land goes under water. The long canoes were referred to as khel naos (meaning playing boats) and the use of cymbals to accompany the singing is common.

The Nowka Bais theme song was showcased at the launch of Nowka Bais in March 2022.

Images: Nowka Bais

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