Manger Music is the most watched Bangladesh gospel music in Youtube today. Led by Samuel Adhikary, this Adventist group started out as Zion Music Ministry, a family group with Samuel and his siblings performing. Later, in 2015, the group include John Calvin Roy, Konika Roy, Robert Nelson Sircar, Ratna Sircar, Nipul Mondol, Lima Adhikary, and Samuel Adhikary.
The group came a long way from its humble beginning. It all started with a burning desire to learn how to play a local musical instrument called tabla, a Bangladesh traditional drum. Samuel decided to make a huge sacrifice to own one, cut his leather jacket and attached the material to a used clay pot to make a tabla because he had no money to buy one. Later, his interest was focused on learning how to play the guitar. Because money was the perennial issue, Samuel and his brother decided to make one for themselves, an improvised box-shaped guitar made of pieces of card board and wood with metal wires to make frets and screws that were taken out from the window grill to make the tuning keys. Later, he improved his musical skill by learning how to play the piano after his father was transferred to Bangladesh Adventist Seminary and College.
After high school, Samuel prayed earnestly to God to give him a computer and a musical keyboard so that he could record his songs and broadcast it in social media. His prayer was answered a little later when an old man knocked on his apartment door and handed him 200 US dollars. The rest is history.
“My aim is to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh as well as in India with Christ's message of salvation through music. This is my part in the Total Member Involvement initiative of the church to prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ,” says Samuel.
It was almost like mission impossible to begin with, but now it is mission accomplished. Everyone with a heart for mission can do his share.
Mamerto M. Guingguing II in collaboration with Robert Nelson Sircar and Samuel Adhikary