Ashiquzzaman Tulu

Ashiquzzaman Tulu (born March 6, 1966) is a Bangladeshi singer, songwriter, musician, composer, lyricist, sound engineer and music director, who was the founder and leader of the popular Bangladeshi rock bands ARK and . He is recognized as a pioneering figure in the music scene of Bangladesh during the 1980s and 1990s.

He was born in 1966 in Dhaka and comes from a musical family. After his father's death in 1973, Tulu began learning instruments like tabla and bongo. He earned degrees in sociology and computer science.

In the 1980s, Tulu composed Bangladesh's second ever audio cassette. In 1982/1983, he founded the rock band Chime, serving as their composer and touring with them extensively before he left the band in 1987 after the success of their debut album that came out the same year. Tulu left Chime in 1990, and in the 1990, Tulu formed the rock band ARK. He was the band's leader, composer, keyboardist, vocalist.

Tulu is recognized for introducing the mixed album format to Bangladesh, curating projects featuring multiple artists. This includes the 1993 album "STARS." Over his career, Tulu composed and produced albums for many notable Bangladeshi singers and bands across different genres.

Early life and family Ashiquzzaman Tulu was born March 6, 1966, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is the son of Ustad Munshi Raisuddin, a prominent Bangladeshi musician and musicologist.

During the liberation war of 1971, his family took shelter to a village in Magura as Tulu's father was in the hit list of the Pakistani Army.

After the death of his father in 1973, Tulu's elder brother, AFM Alimuzzaman guided him to learn various musical instruments like tabla, dholak, and dotara and also received early training in Hindustani classical music. From 1978, he started playing guitar.

Education Tulu finished his Higher Secondary from Udayan School. He did his Honors in Sociology in 1986 and Masters in Sociology in 1990 from the University of Dhaka. Later, he finished his BSc in computer science in 2000 from Brock University, Canada.

Career

Solo In 1980, Tulu composed the 2nd audio album in the history of Audio Cassette industry of Bangladesh. The album was titled "Golden hits of Zulfikar". In 1983, he started playing bass as a session player in Bangladesh movies. From 1986 to 1990, he was a bassist in popular Bengali singer Sabina Yasmin's band. From 1995 to 1998 Tulu composed several record albums of contemporary artists such as Syed Abdul Hadi, Ishtiak, Shakila Zafar, Tapan Chowdhury, Fakir Alamgir, Firoj Shai, Samina Chowdhury, Shubir Nandi, Kumar Bishwajit, Maksud, Partho, among others.

In 2001, Tulu released his first solo album, titled "Kon Kheyale". It was released from Soundtek. The album consisted of 12 tracks voiced by him. Tracks were written by Niaz Ahmed Aungshu, Hasan, Ripon Sikdar, Bappy Khan, among others.

In 2002, Tulu started working as an in-house music director at Ektaar Music.

In 2005, Tulu arranged music for the first studio album of Hyder Husyn, titled Phaishya Gechhi.

STARS In 1993, Tulu composed a mix album featuring 14 popular contemporary musical artists, titled STARS. It was released under the banner of Soundtek, and sponsored by Coca-Cola.

In 1994, Tulu composed the sequel album to STARS titled "STARS 2". It featured artists such as Ayub Bachchu, Agun, Maqsoodul Haque, among others. The album contained the popular track "Tumi Amar Prothom Shokal." In 1984, Tulu began touring with Chime in numerous concerts throughout the country. Their debut concert was staged at T.S.C. in early 1984. In 1986, he composed the first album of the band titled "Chachir Dhukkho", which was released in January 1987. It was released under the banner of recording label .

Over the years, Tulu toured with Chime in hundreds of shows in Bangladesh, including Flood Aid, Band Aid, and Bapri Aia. They also toured in foreign countries, namely in Qatar in 1989. He was the band leader, composer, keyboardist and Vocalist. The band's first line-up consisted of keyboardist and vocalist Ashiquzzaman Tulu, Shamim, Farid, Jahangir, Mobin, and Partha. Later on, Pancham, Shishir, Rezwan, and Hasan joined the band, which was ARK's 2nd line-up.

মুক্তিযুদ্ধ (Liberation War) Ark released their first studio album, "মুক্তিযুদ্ধ (Liberation War)", under the banner of recording label in 1991. This album featured the songs "সেদিনো আকাশে (That Day in the Sky)" and "হারিকেন লণ্ঠন (Hurricane Lantern)". It was released by Soundtek, and continued to the success of the previous albums. It featured songs such as "প্রেমা (Love)", "আর কতো মিথ্যে ? (How Many More Lies?)", and "বন্ধু (Friend)." The album was a composition of 12 of western-eastern fusion-music tracks.

Personal life Tulu currently resides in Toronto, Canada with his 2nd wife Nawshin Kibria, daughter Rodia, and son Nawar. His daughter Rodia is a musician known for her renditions of classic Bengali songs, including from her father's bands. From 2000 to 2002, he worked as a software developer at Tri Media, a software development company in Thorold.

Awards

2022- Sher E Bangla Fazlul Haque Peace Award