The music of Bangladesh spans a wide variety of styles. Bangladesh claims some of the most renowned singers, composers and producers in Asia. Music has served the purpose of documenting the lives of the people and was widely patronized by the rulers. It comprises a long tradition of religious and regular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium.
The Baul are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism from different parts of Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect of troubadours and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Lalon Shah is regarded as the most celebrated Baul saint in history.
Ayub Bachchu was a Bangladeshi rock guitarist, composer, singer and songwriter, who was the founder of the Bangladeshi rock band Love Runs Blind and earned success as the lead singer and the lead guitarist of the band. He is considered as one of the greatest singers of all time in Bangladesh and a pop culture icon. He was one of the pioneers of Bangladeshi pop music.
Love Runs Blind was a Bangladeshi rock band formed in Chittagong by Ayub Bachchu.
Life in a... Metro is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language drama film co-produced, co-written, and directed by Anurag Basu. Partly inspired by Billy Wilder's romantic comedy film The Apartment (1960), it features an ensemble cast of Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Shiney Ahuja, Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kangana Ranaut, and Sharman Joshi in lead roles. The music is composed by Pritam with lyrics by Sayeed Quadri. It narrates the lives of nine people living in Mumbai and deals with topics such as extramarital affairs, sanctity of marriage, commitment phobia, and love.
Moheener Ghoraguli was an Indian rock group from Kolkata, established in 1975. Their music drew from a wide variety of influences, including Bengali folk, Baul, urban American folk, and jazz. They sometimes described their style as "Baul jazz."
Pritam Chakraborty, also popularly known mononymously as Pritam, is a National Award Winning Indian composer, instrumentalist, guitarist, music producer and singer from Kolkata, India. Graduating from FTII in Sound Engineering, he worked as an ad jingles composer, later he debuted as a co-composer in the 2001 Hindi film Tere Liye.
Shubhashish Mazumder Bappa, better known as Bappa Mazumder, is a Bangladeshi singer, lyricist and music composer. He is the lead singer of the rock band Dalchhut, which he formed in 1995 with Sanjeeb Choudhury.
Woh Lamhe... is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt under Vishesh Films. The film stars Kangana Ranaut and Shiney Ahuja. The film is supposedly based on Parveen Babi's life, her battle with schizophrenia and her relationship with Mahesh Bhatt to whom she was a lover as well as a mentor in his struggling days.
Ark is a Bangladeshi rock band formed in 1991 in Dhaka City by keyboardist Ashiquzzaman Tulu. The original founder members are Ashiquzzaman Tulu, Ridwan Nabi Pancham and Shamim. As of 2017, the band line-up re-consists of lead vocalist Syed Hasanur Rahman, keyboardist Tinku Azizur Rahman and drummer Hassan Towhidur Rahman.
Anusheh Anadil is a Bangladeshi musician, artist, cultural activist, and social entrepreneur. The band 'Bangla' was the first female lead band from Bangladesh that became iconically popular in both Bangladesh and West Bengal (India), for their first album Kingkortobbobimuro (2002). Their rendition of spiritual folk songs, along with their own original songs, became a revolution for bringing the sounds of the village bard into popular culture. They helped popularize the philosophy of Fakir Lalon Shai, as a breath of fresh air, to the urban youth. Bangla's second album Prottutponnomotitto (2005) is a tribute to Fakir Lalon Shai. The album questions religious extremism and corrupt politics by using songs of the insightful mystic. The band 'Bangla' inspired many young musicians from both sides of Bengal to rediscover their roots.
Asif Akbar, commonly known as ASIF, is a Bangladeshi singer. He releases solo, duet, and mixed albums and also songs for Bangladeshi cinema. His latest album, Jaan Re, is available online after he released all of his songs in all methods to prevent piracy. He received the Meril Prothom Alo Award for Best Singer (Male) for five consecutive years and the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for his performance in the film Rani Kuthir Baki Itihash (2006).
Artcell is a Bangladeshi progressive metal band formed in 23 October 1999, by vocalist and riff guitarist George Lincoln D'Costa, lead guitarist Ershad Zaman, bassist Saef Al Nazi Cézanne and drummer Kazi Sajjadul Asheqeen Shaju.
Pritom Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-British singer-songwriter, actor and music composer. In Bangladesh he is the only singer with 13 solo albums of his own lyrics and composition. His music focuses on class stratification, contemporary urban life, socio-economic, 2013 Shahbag protests and human rights of Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi rock music, or Bangla rock music, is a style of music in Bangladesh that is derived from British and American rock music, mixed with the Bengali classical and Adhunik musical styles from the 1960s. The genre was introduced in the 1960s by a few bands who began developing a distinctive rock sound. Bangladeshi rock is commonly divided into two categories: East Pakistan rock, and Bangladesh rock. From the 1970s to the 2000s, it was one of the nation's most popular musical genres.
Tahsan Rahman Khan is a Bangladeshi musician, actor and television presenter. He was the former keyboardist and second vocalist of the Grunge and alternative rock band Black. Currently he is the lead singer of his own band called Tahsan and the Band.
Bangla is a folk-rock band from Bangladesh formed by the popular indie musician Shayan Chowdhury Arnob in 1999. Bangla mainly blends the traditional Bangladeshi folk genres like Baul, Lalon together with western flavours like jazz, blues, rock etc. The band released its first album Kingkortobbobimurho in 2002. Over the years, the band has emerged as a prominent music group in the country and became one of the most sought after bands, especially among the urban youth listeners.
Bari Siddiqui was a Bangladeshi singer-songwriter and flautist. His songs include Shua Chan Pakhi, Amar Gaye Joto Dukkho Shoy, Pubali Batashe and Manush Dhoro Manush Bhojo.
Bangladeshi heavy metal or Bangla heavy metal was originated from the evolution of British and American heavy metal bands of the 1980s. Bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth have had the greatest influences on Bangladeshi heavy metal musicians. Other 1970s bands to influence are bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Motörhead. The first bands to play heavy metal in Bangladesh were bands like Warfaze and Rockstrata. The most prominent era for heavy metal movement was between the early 1990s to early 2000s. Warfaze, Rockstrata, Aces and in Dhaka are often considered as the "big four founders of heavy metal". Other 2000s metal bands are bands like Artcell, Aurthohin, Cryptic Fate, Powersurge, Mechanix, Metal Maze, Vibe and Stentorian. Alternative bands like Nemesis, Arbovirus and Black also played some alternative metal songs over the years. Warfaze, Artcell and Aurthohin together are the most popular rock/metal trio of Bangladesh.
Nagar Baul is a Bangladeshi rock band that was founded in Chittagong in 1977 by Kumar Bishwajit. The band is considered to be one of the pioneers of rock and blues music in the country. The frontman of the band, James, is referred to as the "Guru of Rock" as a mark of respect.
