From riffs to reels: Ifaz shredding his way through social media

For many, certainly for myself, the very first time Ifaz Abrar Reza garnered notable plaudits from the rock community was over a decade ago when he posted a couple of videos of him covering renowned Bangla rock guitar solos, played on his black and yellow 2011 Ibanez Gio, on YouTube. Titled 'Tribute to the shredders of the nation'— a title that Ifaz, now in his immaculate maturity, goes as far as to call "cringey", was nothing short of a glimpse of a rather lanky-looking teenager with a bright future ahead of him on the six strings.

Fast forward to 2026; it wouldn't be diabolical to say Ifaz has done himself justice, for he has made quite a name for himself. He prefers looking at himself as more of a hard worker than a talent, and it is through that sheer hard work that he stands tall today (figuratively speaking, as in reality, he is what kids today would call a "short king") as one of the guitarists of Nemesis—which is the icing on the cake of having delivered a handful of cult favourites through his own, but currently "not-so-active," Arekta Rock Band.

However, not intended as a discredit, the biggest bangers Ifaz has dropped lately didn't come from fellow guitarist Sultan Rafsan Khan's studio, but from his trusted DaVinci Resolve; for he has been rather active on social media as a digital creator and has uniquely touched on subjects that you won't find elsewhere in the realm of Bangladeshi social media content.

"If I'm being honest, I kind of always knew that I'm a funny guy. Adding to that, being in the [music] industry, I do get a lot of material by rubbing shoulders with other musicians and a lot of insider information that others won't be privy to. That's when I realised that I stumbled upon a niche," says Ifaz.

Ifaz's words, in essence, do highlight the core of his burgeoning content creation philosophy—his affable humour and delivery with the occasional censored cussing, paired with his knowledge of Bangla music and his dexterous command over the fretboard—resulting in two-minute-long reels that have been rightfully appreciated by his followers and beyond.

At the end of the day, what Ifaz truly desires is for his content to be an archive of Bangladeshi music. What this simple philosophy could potentially bring is much wider than where it currently stands.

The reels that got people talking, the ones where he dived into the nuances of the OG trinity of Bangladeshi musicians from the mid-2000s—Habib, Fuad and Arnob—were a result of Ifaz's acknowledgement of two very crucial factors regarding Bangladeshi listeners: nostalgia and an unfortunate unwelcoming attitude towards new music.

"The honest-to-god blatant truth about music everywhere in the world, and especially in Bangladesh, is that nobody really cares if you release new music. What they do care about, however, is the stories behind the songs—how and why they were made, the nostalgia factor, and the insider information."

At the end of the day, what Ifaz truly desires is for his content to be an archive of Bangladeshi music. What this simple philosophy could potentially bring is much wider than where it currently stands.

For example, an American kid researching his favourite band, Metallica, has the privilege of scouring the internet for uncountable anecdotes and nuances on how specific songs were made and why they are special. 

In contrast, a Bangladeshi teenager trying to unearth why Artcell has a dying compulsion to include the Cadd9 chord in every other romantic number would probably go to his grave without ever knowing why.

And that's exactly what Ifaz brought to light. He explained through one of his content how Bangla pop songs traditionally hardly ever included guitar segments, and how that's different in Fuad Almuqtadir's greatest pop hits where funky and groovy guitar rhythms were present. 

He even brought light to the fun fact that 'Tumi Ki Shara Dibey'—which is regarded as a Black song as well as a Mila song—was in reality a song produced by Fuad for D'Juice, while also stating who actually wrote the lyrics (yes, it certainly wasn't Mila, Jon Kabir, or Tahsan Khan). And this is exactly what viewers have found enjoyable as well as informative.

Then again, how long does Ifaz feel he can keep coming up with such content that primarily deals with Bangla music? Because there really aren't millions of songs or artistes he can play with and feature. Invariably, there is going to be a cutoff point where there's not much new material to play with, right?

"Well, that's the question that keeps me up at night," Ifaz giggled. "As for now, I'm going with the flow. My personal strategy is to cover the artistes and their individual persona, and maybe a steady flow of content could be me breaking down their songs (like when he broke down Habib's 'Din Gelo' in one of his reels.) Because there are so many songs! Maybe one content can be a breakdown of 'top five underrated Nemesis riffs'."

Before wrapping up, I did push him for an answer to an uncomfortable question—whether it's unfortunate that young Bangladeshi musicians, owing to the dysfunctionality of our music industry, may have to resort to content creation rather than exclusively focusing on their musical journey. Ifaz feels that he hasn't "resorted" to this—rather, it's an extra avenue where he believes he can bring a breath of fresh air to Bangladeshi social media, which he feels is presently massively plagued by a constant stream of negativity and dread.

On the musical front, Ifaz says that he has been busy writing a lot of songs and is by no means a full-fledged content creator yet, and may never be. He does, however, find solace in having resumed guitar lessons where around 30-40 students show up. 

Ifaz—owing to his rather breezy knowledge of music theory but a confident grasp of rock and roll—tries to fine-tune his students by hopefully making them better at rock music; it's his way of giving something back.

But a bit of Ifaz's opportunistic and humorous social media persona is evident in his guitar classes as well. For when he posted a reel of his classes and a student, responding to a question of what his favourite chord is, answered that it was 'A minor', Ifaz was quick in quipping that it also stands true for a group of extremists functioning under the disguise of politics. Glad he did.