The Akaliko Company

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City: Dhaka

State: Dhaka

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Country: Bangladesh

The Akaliko Company is a collaborative entity of multiple creative units which are autonomous units as projects and legal entity. It is based on the long-term cross-media collaborative aspect that was developed during the early years of Dhaka Electronica Scene that has morphed into a robust resource sharing mechanism allowing all to do more. Since then, Akaliko has grown into its current identity as an independent record label and beyond with a DIY approach to sourcing new artists and helping other small record labels to grow their own identities. While electronic music is Akaliko’s primary focus, the initiative also collaborates with non-musicians, including writers, choreographers/dancers, communication specialists, and psychologists, to produce music, workshops, music videos, and sound art projects. DES formed in 2012 as a Facebook group with a handful of bedroom music producers mostly from Dhaka. The DIY community grew by leaps and bounds ever since by encouraging artist interaction and collaborative learning through both online and offline platforms. Curated by Khan Mohammad Faisal, DES successfully facilitated the collaborative community to eventually form new artist cliques, helped realize the potential to start new record labels for electronic music and also provided the talents for these creative ventures. Akaliko Records was founded in 2014 by artists Khan Mohammad Faisal and Vru Patel and joined by Shoummo Saha which brought in Kaaktalio in the mix, first as visual studio doing cinematography and photography and then live visuals and other forms of creative computing. DES held workshops for producers at different proficiency levels and partnered with various local and international organizations to help grow the practice of electronic music and sound art in Dhaka and Bangladesh through events and various music projects that include compilations, video projects, audio art installations, and hosted their flagship radio show at Colours FM 101.6 featuring the best works from the city on Monday nights. The struggle was never-ending in terms of outreach and getting the music heard. The limited time slots of FM radio stations was frustrating enough for the Akaliko team to then look on the digital solution of podcasting. Meanwhile, Akaliko Records was the first to surface as a netlabel and pave the way for more such formations and to take the success of DES community to the next level. Over time, it has developed the record label distribution, artist management aspect, music education programs, building a grassroots level ecosystem and delving into sound art. In recent times, the Akaliko family has grown to accommodate a much more diverse group of creative thinkers to make creative solutions and sometimes even force it. Since 2014 Akaliko was in fiscal partnership with Rights and Sights for Children (a non-profit) as it developed and is currently pivoting as a private limited company in late 2018 to start its for-profit operations. Akaliko is a member of ASEF 360 Culture, Samdani Artist-led Initiative, winner of BRAC Manthan Award and has been featured at Startup Dhaka.

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