I didn’t mind, maybe it was a mistake: Hasan

Legendary musician Hasan, the vocalist of the band Ark, faced an unpleasant incident during the ‘Borsha Biplober Gaan’ concert held at Manik Mia Avenue in the capital. While he was performing, a water bottle thrown from the audience hit him in the face. However, he remained calm and continued his performance.

After the incident spread on social media, a wave of criticism emerged. The Bangladesh Musical Bands Association (BAMBA), along with many other musicians, expressed anger over the treatment of the veteran artist. Fans also strongly condemned the incident.

Despite what happened, Hasan once again showed his usual generosity. In a social media post, he said, “I didn’t mind, maybe someone made a mistake! I hope something like this never happens to anyone again.”

In the comments section of his post, one fan wrote, Just imagine how humble someone has to be for such a great artist to respond this way. This shows what kind of person he is and how big his heart is. On behalf of those who did this, we are apologising to Hasan bhai of Ark.

In another Facebook post, Hasan wrote, “Music is our language. The stage is our home. The crowd is our power. Rock on! We play. We sing. We rock. The show must go on!”

Earlier, BAMBA issued a statement condemning the incident. The organisation said, We strongly condemn and protest the disgraceful incident of throwing a bottle at legendary Ark vocalist Hasan during Wednesday’s event at Manik Mia Avenue. This incident is a great humiliation for the entire band music community. We have learned that some unruly people behaved terribly with him, which is shocking. The audience in front of the stage were mostly such people. They had originally been positioned much farther back but broke through police barricades to come forward. After that, they did not follow any discipline or rules.

Demanding that those involved be brought to justice, BAMBA further said, Those responsible for this disgraceful act must be identified quickly through CCTV footage and brought under the law to ensure exemplary punishment. To prevent such incidents in the future, organisers must ensure adequate security, effective CCTV surveillance and all necessary safety measures. We demand justice for this disgraceful incident.

Meanwhile, Palash Noor, vocalist of popular band Warfaze, wrote, Throwing a bottle at a legendary artist is not only shameful, it is a crime. Learn to respect artists. There is no place for disrespect or violence here.

The rock band Dhrub also condemned the incident, saying, Hasan bhai’s songs are part of countless memories of our lives. Seeing him face such disrespect has left us deeply ashamed and saddened. This is not only an insult to a legendary artist but also an insult to our entire band music community.

They added, We strongly condemn the disgraceful incident of throwing a bottle at Ark’s legendary vocalist Hasan bhai. We demand that those responsible be identified quickly and given exemplary punishment. At the same time, we urge organisers to take more effective security measures to ensure the safety of artists and audiences in the future.

Many people from the music community have expressed their anger over the incident involving legendary musician Hasan, not only BAMBA and a few artists.

The concert titled ‘Borsha Biplober Gaan’ was held at Manik Mia Avenue on Wednesday (August 5) to mark July Mass Uprising Day. Along with Hasan’s Ark, bands including Shironamhin, Artcell, AvoidRafa, Arbovirus and Kureghor performed at the event. Solo artists included Asif Akbar, Parsa and rapper Sezan.