What is FNO?

‘Friday Night Originals’ or ‘FNO’, a  venture of A432 Productions, is a Non-Profit Organisation that works for the upliftment of Original and Independent music and its practices. It is a platform for musicians/songwriters/bands to showcase and promote their original compositions, which are recorded, shot and produced by the FNO team and are aired to a global audience through their YouTube channel, “Friday Night Originals”, since March 2016.

The main programme of ‘Friday Night Originals’ is produced in terms of Seasons, which are divided into 8 or 16 episodes. FNO has already aired 4 Seasons and two special 4-episode series from Kolkata, India; a short 6-episode series from Melbourne, under the branding, "FNO Melbourne Street Diaries" and an 8-episode season from Chiang Mai, Thailand. It has got a huge response, not only from the musical community of Kolkata, but also has been recognised nationally and internationally.

FNO has already produced 68 episodes, over three 16-episode Seasons, one 8-episode season, two 4-episode Short Series in Kolkata, a 6-episode "FNO Melbourne Street Diaries" and an 8-episode “FNO Chiang Mai, Thailand : Season I” and plans to open two more parallel production divisions in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, by the end of 2019.

Unlike our contemporary music companies or organisations, we do not charge a single penny for the productions, from our featured artists. From recording, shooting, mixing, editing, mastering, colour-grading, each and every cost involved in the production is borne by us, though we are not a sponsored or a funded organisation. In the near future, due to commercial restrictions, we are being forced to approach a sponsorship/crowd-funding to keep doing what we are doing.

So, what started as a DIY documentation of the independent music scene of Kolkata, has slowly started to spread out to different independent and underground music communities. Our primary objective is to build an International Archiving Platform for Independent Musicians where they can showcase their Original Music. And from the point of view of the production, we want to maintain an international standard in both the audio and the video production.

How did it all begin?

It all started when the chief sound engineer of FNO, Abhibroto Mitra offered to record Durjoy's songs, when the latter replied, "Why would you like to record me when you have the whole city to record?" This statement alone started off the documentation and the archiving of Original and Independent music, which went beyond the boundaries of genre, language, experience and nationalities of the artists. Durjoy and Abhibroto formed the bootstrapped company along with Ayan, who soon parted with the two on personal grounds.

FNO, after a couple of years has around 20 members, working in 4 different cities of the world.

Share this page: