Bengali music comprises a long tradition of religious and secular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium. Composed with lyrics in the Bengali language, Bengali music spans a wide variety of styles.
Rabindra Sangeet, also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the first non-European to receive such recognition. Tagore was a prolific composer with approximately 2,232 songs to his credit. The songs have distinctive characteristics in the music of Bengal, popular in India and Bangladesh.
Kabir Suman, pronounced[kobiɾʃumon]; born Suman Chattopadhyay on 16 March 1949) is an Indian singer-songwriter, musician, music director, music composer, writer, actor, politician, and former journalist.
Pankaj Kumar Mullick was an Indian music composer, playback singer and actor, who was a pioneer of film music in Bengali cinema and Hindi cinema at the advent of playback singing, as well as an early exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.
The music of West Bengal includes multiple indigenous musical genres such as Baul, Ramprasadi, Bishnupuri Classical, Kirtan, Shyama Sangeet, Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul Geeti, Dwijendrageeti, Prabhat Samgiita, Agamani-Vijaya, Patua Sangeet, Gambhira, Bhatiali, Bhawaiya, Bengali Rock.
Anjan Dutta is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre anyodharar gaan . As an actor, Dutta began his career in Bengali cinema in the Mrinal Sen film Chalachitro, for which he won the best newcomer actor award at the Venice Film Festival. He acted in Aparna Sen's hit film, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. In 2018 he featured in Swapnasandhani's new play Taraye Taraye, as Vincent van Gogh, under the direction of Kaushik Sen.
Suchitra Mitra was an Indian singer, composer, artist exponent of Rabindra Sangeet or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, professor, and the first woman Sheriff of Kolkata. As an academic, she remained a professor and the Head of Rabindra Sangeet Department at the Rabindra Bharati University for many years. Mitra was a playback singer in Bengali films and was associated for many years with the Indian People's Theatre Association.
Jôdi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tôbe Ekla Chôlo Re, commonly known as Ekla Chôlo Re, is a Bengali patriotic song written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905.
Vidushi Kaushiki Chakraborty is an Indian classical vocalist and a composer. She attended Sangeet Research Academy, and was one of the exponents of Patiala gharana. Her repertoire covers pure classical, Khyals, Dadras, Thumris, Bhajans etc. and several other forms of Indian music. She is the recipient 2005 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in the Asia-Pacific category. She is the daughter of Hindustani classical vocalist, Ajoy Chakraborty and she has held performances with him as well as her husband, Parthasarathi Desikan. In 2020, she was awarded Nari Shakti Puraskar. Kaushiki is also a trained Carnatic Classical Vocalist.
Anandalok Puraskar or Anandalok Awards ceremony is an award ceremony for Bengali film in India. The Anandalok, only film magazine in Bengali language, published from Ananda Publishers and Ananda Bazar Patrika presents this award (Puraskar). The magazine was started on 25 January 1975 and the awards ceremony was started in 1998.
Srikanta Acharya is a Kolkata-based modern Bengali singer. Acharya is one of the most prominent exponents of Rabindra Sangeet.
Mehreen Mahmud mostly known by her stage name Mehreen, is a Bangladeshi singer.
Himangshu Dutta was a Bengali music director. Amongst several contemporary legendary composers of his time as Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Atulprasad Sen, Dutta is renowned for his unique and melodious composition of music. Songs composed by him is usually known as "Himangshu Dutta-er Gaan". The Saraswat Samaj of Dhaka awarded him the title 'Surasagar' for his contribution to Bengali music. He himself was an accomplished singer as well.
Sourav Sarkar, popularly known as Joy Sarkar, is a Kolkata based Indian Bengali film music composer. Sarkar mainly works in Bengali cinema and albums. He composed soundtracks for Jodi Ekdin (2010), Accident (2012), Muktodhara (2012), Bicycle Kick (2013), Half Serious (2013), Rupkatha Noy (2013), The play (2013), Antaraal (2013), Women Prayed and Preyed Upon (2013), Ek Phali Rodh (2014), Abby Sen (2015), Kiriti Roy (2016), Nayikar Bhumikay (2017), Bilu Rakkhosh (2017), Pupa (2018), Reunion (2019), Shesher Golpo (2019), and Parcel (2019).
Rezwana Choudhury Bannya is a legendary Rabindra Sangeet singer. She is an exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, the songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. She has won many awards including Bangladesh's highest civilian award, the Independence Day Award (2016) and India's fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri (2024).
Jaatishwar is a 2014 Indian Bengali musical drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji, starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta and Swastika Mukherjee. The main focus of the plot revolves around the life and notable works of Anthony Firingee, a 19th-century Bengali language folk poet of Portuguese origin, along with other supporting characters. The time frame of the storyline jumps between two different time periods—19th century and the present day (2013). The music of Jaatiswar is composed by Kabir Suman.
Srikanta Acharya is a Kolkata-based modern Bengali singer-songwriter and music director. Srikanta was born in Kolkata, India and is son of Rohini Nandan Acharya and Kana Acharya. He got formal training in Rabindrasangeet from Dakshinee. He also got trained in tabla from Ustad Ali Ahmed Khan. He quit his job as a sales professional and then Utpal Chakravarty, proprietor of an old music store convinced him to drop in his cassettes at Sagarika Music. He got a call from them within a week and they offered him a contract to sing for them. Srikanta Acharya is now a household name across the world among audiences who listen to Bengali music. Musical life of Srikanta started from the world of Bengal culture. He is an qualitative songs-tan of Bengal music.
Kadambari (2015) is a Bengali film directed by Suman Ghosh and produced by Rakesh Singh. The music of the film was composed by Bickram Ghosh. This is a biopic of Kadambari Devi, the sister-in-law of Rabindranath Tagore and Konkona Sen Sharma and Parambrata Chatterjee played the lead roles.
