Bangladeshi rock
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.
From the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, Bangladeshi rock was heavily influential in the development of various fusion genres in South Asia like folk rock, pop rock, hard rock and heavy metal. Bangladeshi rock bands during this era developed a distinct sound, with the most popular bands commonly featuring keyboards. In the 2000s, several subgenres of Bangladeshi heavy metal music emerged, including thrash, death and progressive. From the 2000s to 2010s, additional rock genres developed, including art, psychedelic, post-grunge, progressive and alternative.
Rock and roll (1960s to mid-1980s)
Origins
The foundations of Bangladeshi rock started in the 1950s as a fusion of American rock and roll and Bengali classical music. In the 1960s, the Gramophone Company of Pakistan imported many LPs and singles from rock and roll artists like Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and the Hollies, which sold very well in Bangladesh. These artists were favored mostly by high school and college students. Drawing influences from 1950s and 1960s rock and roll artists, Bangladeshi rock bands formed. Hence, mid-1960s Bangladeshi rock music was influenced by and developed a sound that was very similar in beat to the British Invasion and, in the late 1960s, to that of psychedelic rock.There is much debate as to who was the first rock band in the country. Zinga, formed in 1963 in Chittagong, is an early contender, but their music resembled Adhunik more than rock and roll. The band introduced guitar, drums and piano, which made their music quite popular. It was also the first band to perform Tagore songs with guitar and piano on East Pakistan TV. It has been argued by singer and journalist Elita Karim that Windy Side of Care was the first rock band of the country. Formed in 1964 in Dhaka, they started performing songs by Elvis and Cliff Richard in clubs and hotels. They were also the first band to advertise themselves as performing psychedelic rock. Their self-titled debut album also featured the raga rock song "Raag Bageshri". In 1968, Zinga released their first song "Tomari Jiboney" which became very popular as it was aired on Shadhin Bangla Betar and East Pakistan TV. From the late 1960s, inspired by the Beatles, Zinga became interested in the singer-songwriter concept. Another band, formed by American students living in Dhaka called Insex Dui, was an American-Bangladeshi band that performed American and British psychedelic rock music in the 1960s.
Before becoming a successful Dhallywood actor, Zafar Iqbal was a singer in the band The Rambling Stones, formed in 1966. Other popular rock bands of the 1960s included Ugly Phases, Fire in Ice and Time Ago Motion. None of these bands released any albums.
The Concert for Bangladesh
As East Pakistan struggled to become the separate state of Bangladesh during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the political and military turmoil and associated atrocities led to a massive refugee problem, with at least seven million displaced people moving to neighbouring India. Bengali musician Ravi Shankar first brought the issue to the attention of his friend George Harrison in the early months of 1971.Concerts for relief efforts were held at 2:30 pm and 8:00 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971 in Madison Square Garden. They featured a supergroup of performers that included Harrison, fellow former Beatle Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and the band Badfinger. In addition, Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan performed an opening set of Indian classical music. The concerts were attended by a total of 40,000 people, and the initial gate receipts raised about US$250,000 for Bangladeshi relief, which was administered by UNICEF. After gathering the musicians, Harrison found it extremely difficult to get the recording industry to release the rights for performers to share the stage, and millions of dollars raised from the album and film were tied up in IRS tax escrow accounts for years. The Concert for Bangladesh is considered to be a highly successful and influential humanitarian aid project, generating both awareness and considerable funds, as well as providing valuable lessons and inspiration for projects that followed, such as Live Aid.
The Concert for Bangladesh was the first-ever benefit concert in history. The concerts were followed by a bestselling live album, a boxed three-record set, and a concert documentary by Apple Films, which debuted in 1972. The live album topped the music charts in many countries and went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1973. The album had a big impact on early Bangladeshi rock music in the mid-1970s, especially on Azam Khan.
Post-independence
Most of the Bangladeshi rock bands from the 1960s did not become successful and disbanded after the war in 1971. Some musicians went abroad or formed new bands.One of the first bands of independent Bangladesh was Underground Peace Lovers, formed in 1972 in Dhaka. Uccharon were the biggest band of that era in South Asia. Inspired by 1960s rock music and some Hindustani classical music, their frontman Azam Khan introduced hippie fashion to the scene. Khan was also a freedom fighter and renowned protest singer during the war, and inspired soldiers during training with his songs. His first song, "Hai Allah Re!" became a hit in 1973. "Bangladesh", a song released by his band in 1975, was a protest song and inspired many bands to write songs about the struggle of the poor. They had more hit songs later in the decade including "Ami Jare Chaire", "Ashi Ashi Bole Tumi" and "Papri Keno Bojhena".
On the other hand, Spondan, led by singer-songwriter Nasir Ahmed Apu, mostly performed traditional folk songs. They became one of the most popular Bangladeshi rock bands of the 1970s, and their 1975 debut album Spondan Bangladesh was the best-selling album of the decade. Uccharon's protest songs inspired many bands of the 1980s and 1990s to write songs against the autocratic government.
Pop rock
In mid-1970s Bangladesh, more bands were formed, mostly in Chittagong and Dhaka. There were twenty to thirty bands in the two cities playing in clubs, hotels and halls. Most of them were influenced by the British Invasion, Adhunik music and the early rock and roll scene in Bangladesh.With songs like "Abar Elo Je Shondha", "Ke Bashi Bajai Re", and "Neel Neel Shari Porey", the brothers Lucky and Happy Akhand became very popular throughout the country. Happy Akhand taught, produced, and promoted other artists, including Ferdous Wahid, Kumar Bishwajit, Ayub Bachchu and James. Pop rock music was also led by the Chittagong-based band Souls. After their first single "Mon Shudhu Mon Chuyeche" in 1980, the band was appreciated by older rock bands. They released their debut album Super Souls two years later, which made them one of the most popular bands in the country. The band Miles released a self titled debut album in 1982, which was the first all- English album in the country. It only featured two original songs by the band.
Most 1970s bands disbanded because of their vocalists' prominence. In the 1980s however, bands stayed together and continued to release hit singles and albums into the 1990s.
More subgenres emerged, such as psychedelic rock and hard rock. Nova was successful in the 1980s as a psychedelic rock band.
Development (late 1980s to mid 1990s)
Pop and hard rock
Bands from the 1980s continued their success along with new bands of the 1990s. In the 1960s to 1980s, many rock bands were formed in Chittagong, but often went to Dhaka in the 1990s for better studio services and success. The 1990s are sometimes considered the most productive decade in Bangladeshi music history. Rock music became the most popular genre in the country. During the 1990s, it was common to divide mainstream rock into pop and hard rock. Pop rock became more popular than in previous decades as bands like Souls and Feedback, whose frontman Maqsoodul Haque established the Bangladesh Musical Bands Association in 1987, began. BAMBA was formed to arrange a three-day charity concert at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka. The aim was to raise funds to help victims of the devastating flood in Bangladesh that year. Around ৳250,000 was raised, all of which was donated for the rehabilitation of flood victims. BAMBA organized many successful concerts throughout the 1990s that helped many bands with their careers. New successful acts included Ark, Different Touch and Winning. Ark released a string of hit singles, including "Sweety", "Ekaki" and "Jare Ja". Along with Ark, pop rock remained the most popular rock genre of the decade, even after two decades in the country. The decline of the genre was mainly due to bands adopting more of a pop sound influenced by Michael Jackson. Many bands also disbanded due to reduced success and personal problems between band members.In contrast, hard rock was more influenced by 1960s psychedelic rock, blues rock and 1970s Bangladeshi rock artists. The most successful and influential psychedelic rock band of the time was Nova.
The most successful blues rock band was Love Runs Blind, which went on to release several bestselling albums. Some earlier bands also became interested in the genre as its popularity grew. Feedback and Souls had some hard rock songs in their albums from 1993 to 1996.
Soft rock found its way to Bangladesh during the mid-1990s, influenced by 1980s American music of the genre. It was not very popular at first, but was successful between 1998 and 1999. Paper Rhyme released its self-titled debut album in 1996 and was praised by many contemporary musicians because of their decade-defining song "Ondhokar Ghore", which is one of the most-covered songs in Bangladesh. After Paper Rhyme disbanded in the early 2000s the genre's popularity dropped.