Dhaka Makers 2 features more than a hundred "makers," as they lovingly call the artisans and entrepreneurs, showcasing their crafts in the "makers' marketplace" on both floors of Aloki's main hall
Dhaka Makers is back, and just as advertised in their online promotional campaigns, the organisers have really turned things up a notch. Having already had a test run last year, everything about the second edition felt more cohesive.
With the event scheduled over four days starting from 1 February , Dhaka Makers 2 features more than a hundred "makers," as they lovingly call the artisans and entrepreneurs, showcasing their crafts in the "makers' marketplace" on both floors of Aloki's main hall. The ticket price has been set at Tk200 this time round and the event runs till 4 February.
Photo: Mehedi Hasan
There are also around 30 scheduled interactive workshops to be hosted, and complementing them is a "Food Pavilion" curated by chef Sameera Wadood that features dishes and desserts for all the different taste buds out there.
However, the art gallery featuring around 85 paintings and a few installations by a plethora of young local artists and "the stop motion animation" workshop on the 12 basic principles of the skill by Ogopogo Studios particularly piqued our interest. And, of course, the icing on the cake on a rainy February night at Aloki was the musical performance by the headliner, "Tashfee and Friends," but more on that later.
Art Gallery
The art gallery was a highlight of the event. Each artwork was special and had its own deep message. For instance, on the left side of the gallery, you will notice five striking pieces by artist Helal Samrat.
These works featured parts of the human skeleton and a lifeless creature in each frame, using a unique coffee print technique on canvas paper. If you looked closely, you'd see a powerful message about how human actions and progress have harmed the environment and led to the loss of many animal species.
Photo: Mehedi Hasan
The last picture depicts a cosy moment, with one person reading in bed and another watching on.
The gallery was bursting with colours, making it hard to pick a favourite piece. The mix of fresh, modern, and seasoned artists who shared their creations at this edition of Dhaka Makers made it an unforgettable experience.
Stop-motion toys
Ogopogo Studios primarily deals with making short animation videos for their clients, but this time around, they showed up with newly made, handcrafted toys for kids in their stall.
"We do teach stop motion to kids and adults, and if we make puppets or toys in a certain way, it's easier for them to learn and transition into stop motion animation," said Amit Ashraf, the founder of Ogopogo Studios.
Photo: Mehedi Hasan
"It's all handcrafted and designed to break the barrier for beginners that stop motion is scary. We also wanted to bring the feel of playing with wood-crafted toys because all kids mostly play with iPads these days," he added.
There were a couple of interesting toys that had attachable props with which you could alternate the design and the actions that the toy could carry out. One that stood out was the tiger named Blocky Bagh, who lives in Blockybon Forest and has lost contact with all of his blocky friends.
Tashfee and friends
One of the best aspects of events such as Dhaka Makers, which pride themselves on providing a platform for a myriad of local artists to express their talents, is how you always stumble upon and discover niche artists.
Rest assured, you won't find Tashfee or her band of instrumentalist friends on any Spotify Bangla top five playlists, but that doesn't mean her ethereal voice and live showmanship on stage can't steal the spotlight in an event that never branded the musical performances as their highlight. But that's exactly what happened on the first night of Dhaka Makers 2.
Although a rain-soaked stage delayed the concert by 90 odd minutes, once Tashfee, accompanied by Tawfiq Taj on acoustic guitar, Mubarak Hossain Milon on cajon and Taawkir Tajammul on lead guitar, took the stage, an ambience of bliss filled the air, and that had a lot to do with the band's decision to play an unplugged set, which kicked off around 10:30 PM in front of a seated crowd of around 70 odd people.
Tashfee's set primarily consisted of Bangla folk music. She started off with "Bhromor," and the stage was being set with filler licks on a clean tone by the skilful Taawkir, which provided for some melodious tunes in between verses.
Among other songs were Tashfee's original 'Alo' and her rendition of 'Nisha Lagilo Re' and 'Moyna Go'. She also covered the Beatles' 'Come Together', which all but showcased her vocal dexterity.
However, the best bits of the entire set were the cover songs that resonated most with the crowd. Tashfee covered Warfaze's iconic 'Obak Bhalobasha' and to pull the song off in an unplugged setting has to be lauded. Credit must go to her guitarist Taawkir, who played the legendary keyboard intro on guitar.
Before she thanked everyone for staying back till almost midnight, Tashfee ended her set with Nagar Baul James' 'Taray Taray', and I don't need to tell you that everyone in the audience sang along to the chorus of the love song at the top of their lungs.
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