Shafin Ahmed, band music icon and former Miles frontman, no more

Shafin Ahmed, unanimously regarded as Bangladesh’s one of the most popular and iconic band artists and former frontman of the legendary Bangladeshi band Miles, has passed away at age 63.

The popular Bangladeshi rock bassist, singer-songwriter, and record producer breathed his last while on life support in a hospital in Virginia, United States, on Wednesday (local time) due to heart and kidney failure, according to the Bangladesh Band Music Fans Community (BBMFC).

Born on February 14, 1961, in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, to the subcontinent’s pioneering music artists Kamal Dasgupta and Feroza Begum, Shafin Ahmed joined the Bangladeshi rock band Miles in 1979.

Alongside his brother and another iconic Bangladeshi music artist, Hamin Ahmed, he performed in Miles first as an acoustic guitarist and later became the band’s lead singer and bassist in 1991.

After moving to Dhaka during childhood, Shafin Ahmed began his musical career at the age of nine by taking lessons about Nazrul Sangeet, courtesy of his iconic parents. He was exposed to Western musical influences since he studied in England, along with his elder brother Hamin Ahmed, after completing his schooling at the St Joseph Higher Secondary School in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Continuing with Miles as the vocalist, songwriter, composer, and bass guitarist from 1979, Shafin Ahmed first left the band in 2009. He rejoined in 2014 and continued till 2017, left for the second time, and rejoined for his final run with the band in 2018, after permanently leaving the band in 2021.

Despite his creative disputes with his bandmates at Miles, Shafin Ahmed performed and collaborated on every album of the band, starting with Miles (1982) and progressing to A Step Farther (1986), Protisruti (the band’s maiden Bengali album, 1991), Prottasha (1993), Prottoy (1996), Proyash (1997), Probaho (2000), Protiddhoni (2006), Proticchobi (2015), and Proborton (2016). After leaving Miles in 2009, he formed his own band, Rhythm of Life, in 2010, which continued till 2014.

Shafin Ahmed simultaneously made his place in the country’s music industry as one of its most popular and iconic singers, courtesy of his popular songs, including ‘Aj Jonmodin Tomar’, which is often considered as the anthem of birthday celebrations in the country. Written and composed by eminent music producer Prince Mahmud, the song was first featured in Prince’s mixed album Daag Theke Jay (2004).

As the frontman of Miles, Shafin Ahmed is also acclaimed for many popular and superhit tracks, including ‘Phiriye Dao’, ‘Dhiki Dhiki’, ‘Neela’, ‘Chad Tara Surjo',''Ki Jaadu’, ‘Jani Tumi’ and more.

He also released several solo albums, including Tomakey (1987), Pagla Ghonti (1998), Chobi Ar Sritigulo (1999), Best of Shafin Ahmed (2001), Kotodin Dekhina Tomay (2006), Virus (2006), Harano Shukh (2007), My Love Songs (2010), and Mone Pore Aj (Nazrul Songs, as a tribute to his mother Feroza Begum, 2016).

Besides his successful musical career, Shafin Ahmed also took part in the nation’s politics and even contested at the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) in 2019 for the mayor position from the Jatiya Party.