Music of Bangladesh | |
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Genres | |
Specific forms | |
Religious music | |
Ethnic music | |
Traditional music | |
Media and performance | |
Music awards | |
Music festivals | |
Music media |
Radio Television Internet |
Nationalistic and patriotic songs | |
National anthem | Amar Sonar Bangla |
Other |
Notuner Gaan (National March) Ekusher Gaan (Ode to the Language Movement) |
Regional music | |
Related areas | |
Other regions | |
Radio
Television
Internet
Bangladeshi rock or Bangla rock (Bengali: বাংলা রক) is the rock music of Bangladesh. It originated in Chittagong with Souls, which was formed in 1970.Distortion, electric and bass guitars and drums are used, sometimes accompanied by piano or other keyboard instruments. In the past, it was accompanied by saxophone, flute, violin and bass violin.
Bangladeshi rock began in 1960 when a handful of self-taught musicians joined to create original songs. Their efforts resulted in the birth of the Bangla rock scene. In 1963, Zinga Goshty was the first orchestra band in Bangladesh, formed in Chittagong by a group of students from Chittagong College. Pioneering groups during the late 1960s included Windy Side of Care (M. Fazle Rub, Alamgir, Rafique Mazhar Islam Saju, Rafi Omar, and Khwaja Shabbir Quader), the Lightnings (Neo Mendis,Noel Mendis) Rambling Stones (Zafar Iqbal and others), Ugly Phases, Time Ago Motion (Robin and others), Fire in Ice (Selim Alam, Reza Ahmed, Chhoton Islam and Habib Zafarullah Mithu) and Insex Dui (a band with American students studying at the American School in Dacca). They performed without expensive instruments or sound systems.
Azam Khan (Uchharon), a.k.a. the Legend, a.k.a. the Imaginative Composer, emerged during the 1970s. Happy Akhand's "Abar Alo Elo Je Shondha" was a popular song, and his premature death was a blow to the musicians he influenced. Akhand's contemporaries include the late Firoze Shahi, Ferdaus Wahid and Fakir Alamgir. Many old bands are still active, including Souls (1970), Feedback (1976), Miles (1978), Nagar Baul (1980) and Warfaze (1984).
Although early Bangladeshi rock is characterised by romantic songs and mellow tunes, the scene began to change during the 1980s. Waves introduced Heavy Metal music in Bangladesh. Warfaze was also a progressive band during this period. Feedback was another band, who released the albums Ullash and Mela. From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, hard rock became more popular. "It was around 1986 when Miles performed hard rock in Dhaka. They performed songs of Iron Maiden which was rocking to people. The next concert was a mind blowing performance, in which they covered several numbers of Iron Maiden and they did very well indeed!" The band was called Rock Strata, and it was followed by Warfaze. Different Touch was also active during the late 1980s and early 1990s, playing "Sraboner Meghgulo". Nova (1986) and Renaissance were bands from the same period. The era also witnessed the emergence of artists such as Ayub Bachchu (who created LRB) and solo performers Tapan Chowdhury and Kumar Bishwajit.