Bangla band
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A Bangla band is any (modern) musical band that performs solely or mainly in the Bengali language and which uses Western principles of music.
Mohiner Ghoraguli is widely credited with being the first Bangla Band, though it did not achieve wide recognition in its time. Later, as Western influences became more widespread, the Bangla band became popular with young people during the 1980s and 1990s, both in India and Bangladesh, and has since become entrenched in modern Bengali culture.
Bangla bands use a wide variety of styles such as rock, pop, hard rock, heavy metal,grunge, folk, and fusion. Their music is influenced both by popular American music as well as traditional Bengali folk music such as shyama sangeet and baul.
Like popular music in other countries, Bangla bands are very popular among Bengali young people.
[edit] NEW WAVE OF BENGALI MUSIC
The rock scene in Kolkata, West Bengal, has evolved and expanded and young fans always want new music. The new wave of music startedin the 1970s, with Sir Gautam Chattopadhay, and it was an element of surprise for the youth of the city. The music composed during this era was published later in the 1990s. Bengali music was little known until the growth of globalization, the elements of western music combined with mystic and soulful lyrics in bengali. The themes were based on various incidents, personalities and even on psychological aspects of human life. The music started gaining widespread popularity in the early 1990s, though common at universities and colleges. It took approximately 20 years to establish a different genre of music in Bengali.
Bangla bands are becoming more common in Bengal. Most of them developed after Kabir Suman came up with a new concept in early 1990s, followed by Nachiketa and Anjan Dutta. These three contemporary composers ruled the alternative music scene of Kolkatafor a decade. The new wave gave birth to classic bands like Krosswindz, Lakkhichhara under the mentorship of Sir Gautam Chattopadhay. Bands like Hip Pockets and Skinney Alley were major contributors, but they were not considered as typical as they sang in English, and recorded on international labels. In the mid 1990s, bands like Parash Pathar, Chandrabindoo, Cactus, Abhilasha and Mohiner Ghoraguli became popular. There was a conscious effort by all these bands to emphasize something new. All of them were successful to a great extent, although they changed the harmonium to an organ or piano, Sitar to a guitar and drums replacing tabla. All these bands worked with different genres of music like jazz, blues, pop, mainstream rock, reggae and latino. Mohiner Ghoraguli composed songs relating to different genres.
[edit] List of Bangla bands
Actually the list has become quite long, specially of late. This is primarily because these days any group of 5-6 school kids who have been disillusioned with their academics and have no other skills end up opening a "Bangla band" as they see it as a quick and effective way of becoming "cool". As a result the quality of music produced by these Bangla bands have deteriorated considerably.
