Music of Bangladesh

Bangladesh claims some of the most renowned singers, composers and producers in South Asia. Bangladeshi music spans a wide variety of styles. 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.

Music by time

Old Bengal Music
In ancient Bengal, the common people used to write letters. From then on the music began to circulate. Former Buddhist society Weapons, a special place was occupied. Buddhist missionaries used to pronounce it in song. Consequently, it would have been easy to win the mind of the reader. One such verse is:

         “Ka Aur Tubar Punch B Dal
           Stage B A cycle in China "
                     - Louise Pa
Then the Hindu society, goddess worship, singing people goddess worship was.

Music in the Middle Ages
Music was a high standard in the Middle Ages in this country. During the Middle Ages alaol 's poems was a kind of music box. Among the poets of the Middle Ages are Rabindranath Tagore, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Lalon Shah, Shah Abdul Karim, Hasan Raja, Radharaman. At that time, kirtan was written for the Hindu Goddesses. In addition, Vaishnava Padavali has been composed. It was composed mainly around the story of Krishna and Radha. These Vaishnavas are among the prominent proponents of rankVidyapati, Chandidas, Gyanadas, Govinda Das are prominent

Music medieval Muslim society
In the Middle Ages, the Muslim community used to study scripture. The booklets were recited to the tone of the song. The manuscripts were taken from Arabian novels, various stories from Persian. Some of the booklets are:

Youssef-Jolekha
Lyle-Majnu
Battlefield
Sayful Mulk Badiuzzaman et al
Apart from that music was also praised by a musician known as Ghazal.

Hindu medieval music
The music was most prevalent in the Hindu society of the Middle Ages. Hindus used to sing for worship to the gods. Kirtan songs were used in the Hindu society of that day. There were also Vaishnava footsteps.

Modern music
In the modern era, Bangladesh has been divided into many parts:

Folklore
Modern song
Band music

Music by type

Classical music
Ragapradhan Gaan
Bangladeshi classical music is based on modes called ragas. In composing these songs, the melodies of north Indian ragas are used. As far as the Charyagiti (9th century), ragas have been used in Bengali music. Jaydev’s Gitagovindam, Padavali Kirtan, Mangal Giti, Shyamasangit, Tappa, Brahma Sangeet and Tagore songs have been inspired by Ragas. The use of north Indian ragas in Bangla songs began in 18th Century. This trend gathered momentum during the 19th and 20th century. The pioneers of these trend were Ramnidhi Gupta, Kali Mirza, Raghunath Roy and the founder of the Bishnupur Gharana, Ramshanker Bhattacharya. Nawab of Lakhnau, Wajid Ali Shah played an important role in this trend. He was dethroned by the British empire in 1856 and banished to Metiaburuz, Kolkata. During his 30-year exile, he patronized music, specially dhrupad, tappa, thumri and kheyal. And, thus made a lasting impact on Bangladeshi music. All traditional Bengali music tend to be based on various variations of Hindustani Classical Music. Rabindranath Tagore had a deep appreciation for North Indian ragas, successfully introduced ragas in his songs. He was followed by Dwijendralal Roy, Rajanikanta Sen and Atulprasad Sen.

Folk music
Folk has come to occupy the lives of Bangladeshis almost more than any other genre of Bengali music. Among the luminaries of the different folk traditions are Lalon Fokir, Shah Abdul Karim, Radharaman Dutta, Hason Raja, Khursheed Nurali (Sheerazi), Ramesh Shil, Kari Amir Uddin Ahmed and Abbas Uddin. Folk songs are characterised by simple musical structure and words. Before the advent of radio, entertainment in the rural areas relied on a large extent on stage performances by folk singers. With the arrival of new communication technologies and digital media, many folk songs were modernised and incorporated into modern songs (Adhunik songeet).

Folk music can be classified into several subgenres:

Baul: mainly inspired by Lalon and almost exclusively performed by Baul mystics.
Bhandari: Devotional music from the South (mainly Chittagong).
Bhatiali: Music of fishermen and boatman, almost always tied by a common ragas sung solo.
Bhawaiya: Song of bullock-cart drivers of the North (Rangpur).
Dhamail: A form of folk music and dance originated in Sylhet. It is practiced in the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh and in areas influenced by the Sylheti culture such as the Barak Valley of Assam and parts of Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur in India.
Gazir Gaan: Devotional songs dedicated to Gazi Pir, who is part of Pach Pir tradition of folk practice and belief.
Ghazal: Popular folk music of Sufi genres, introduced from philosophy and religion in music practiced mainly by Bengali Muslims.
Gombhira: Song (originated in Chapai Nawabganj) performed with a particular distinctive rhythm and dance with two performers, always personifying a man and his grand father, discussing a topic to raise social awareness.
Hason Raja: Devotional songs written by a music composer by the name of Hason Raja (from Sylhet, northeastern side of Bangladesh near Assam) that was recently repopularised as dance music.
Jari: songs involving musical battle between two groups
Jatra Pala: songs associated exclusively with plays (performed on-stage). Usually involves colourful presentations of historical themes.
Jhumur: traditional dance song form Bangladesh and eastern part of India.
Kavigan: poems sung with simple music usually presented on stage as a musical battle between poets.
Kirtan: devotional song depicting love to Hindu God Krishna and his (best-known) wife, Radha.
Lalon: best known of all folk songs and the most important subgenre of Baul songs, almost entirely attributed to spiritual writer and composer, Lalon Fokir of Kushtia. He is known to all in West Bengal of India too.(Western Bangladesh, near the border with West Bengal).
Pala Gaan: folk ballad also known as Pat.
Sari: sung especially by boatmen. It is often known as workmen's song as well.
Shyama Sangeet: a genre of Bengali devotional songs dedicated to the Hindu goddess Shyama or Kali which is a form of supreme universal mother-goddess Durga or parvati. It is also known as Shaktagiti or Durgastuti.

Baul
Baul is the most commonly known category of Bangladeshi folk songs. It is mostly performed by hermits who are followers of Sufism in Bangladesh. Present day Sufis earn mainly from performing their music. Baul songs incorporate simple words expressing songs with deeper meanings involving creation, society, lifestyle and human emotions. The songs are performed with very little musical support to the main carrier, the vocal. Instruments used include the Ektara ("one-string"), Dotara ("two-strings"), ba(n)shi (country flute made from bamboo) and cymbals. In recent times[when?], Baul geeti has lost popularity, due to urbanisation and westernisation.


Music of Robindra
Rabindra Sangeet (Bengali: রবীন্দ্রসঙ্গীত Robindro shonggit, Bengali pronunciation: [ɾobindɾo ʃoŋɡit]), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs written and composed by Rabindranath Tagore. They have distinctive characteristics in the music of Bengal, popular in India and Bangladesh. "Sangeet" means music, "Rabindra Sangeet" means Songs of Rabindra.

Rabindra Sangeet used Indian classical music and traditional folk music as sources.

Music of Nazrul
Nazrul Geeti or Nazrul Sangeet, literally "music of Nazrul," are songs written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam, a Bengali poet and national poet of Bangladesh and active revolutionary during the Indian Independence Movement. Nazrul Sangeet incorporate revolutionary notions as well as more spiritual, philosophical and romantic themes.

Music of Shah Abdul Karim
Shah Abdul Karim known as "Baul Samrat" or king of baul music, he has composed over 1600 baul songs, some of his notable songs include Keno Piriti Baraila Re Bondhu, Murshid Dhono He Kemone Chinibo Tomare, Nao Banailo Banailo Re Kon Mestori, Ashi Bole Gelo Bondhu and Mon Mojale Ore Bawla Gaan. He referred to his compositions as Baul Gaan. He holds voice against Unfair, injustice, prejudice and communalism through his writings. Karim portraits Bhati area’s people love, wish and happiness amid the writings. He got inspiration from another legendary musician Fakir Lalon Shah. Karim wrote lots of spiritual songs including Marfati or Dehatatta. Bangla Academy has translated ten songs of his in the English language. Karim wrote lots of spiritual songs including Marfati or Dehatatta. Bangla Academy has translated ten songs of his in The English language.

Music of Lalon
Lalon also known as Fakir Lalon Shah, Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir. Lalon composed numerous songs and poems, which describe his philosophy. It is estimated that Lalon composed about 2,000 - 10,000 songs, of which only about 800 songs are generally considered authentic. Lalon left no written copies of his songs, which were transmitted orally and only later transcribed by his followers. Also, most of his followers could not read or write either, so few of his songs are found in written form.

Modern Bangla music
Adhunik sangeet literally means "modern songs". Although to outsiders, this may seem like an ambiguous nomenclature, it has particular motivations.

Bengali music traditionally has been classified mainly by the region of origin and the creators of the musical genre, such as Nazrul geeti (written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam), ghombhira (unique to a specific area in Bangladesh), etc. However, this prevented the ability to classify any music that failed to fit into any of the classes. In the period just before Indian independence, several new minor musical genres emerged, mainly in the form of playback songs for movies. A miscellaneous category, Adhunik sangeet, was created, since, at that time, this music was "modern".

Popular music
Modernisation of Bengali music occurred at different times and, for the most part, independent of western influence. Most notable of these changes were:

Film music
The film industry of Bangladesh supported music by according reverence to classical music while utilizing the western orchestration to support melodies.

Bangladeshi rock music
Bangladeshi rock was introduced in 1972 by singer, songwriter, music composer Nasir Ahmed Apu of Spondan band, pioneer of Bengali pop/rock and re-invented Bengali folk music in Bangladesh. Spondan was founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 17 January 1972. Spondan's " Emom Ekta Ma Deana ', " Sritiro Shai pote ajo " songs written, tune and music by Nasir Ahmed Apu, Vocal by Ferdous Wahid, Record label Bangladesh Gramophone company, 1975 are all time hit. Other popular songs created by Nasir Ahmed Apu of Spondan are "Paglar mon Nacchaya", (Vocal by Ferdous Wahid, record label- Dhaka Record, 1974) "Ai Montare Daana mele diechi vocal by Nasir Ahmed Apu (recorded in 1974), Shajiey gujie de more (recorded in 1976) and further more. Uccharon was formed in 1973 and their first released album was "Ore Saleka, and High court er Majhare" vocal by Azam Khan of Uccharon, record label Dhaka Record, 1973. Subsequently, other contributory bands are Souls, Miles, Nagar Baul, Warfaze, RockStrata, LRB and Ark.

Popular Rock Bands

Formed	Name	Genre	Language	City of origin
1973	Souls	Pop/Rock	Bengali	Chittagong
	Uccharon			Dhaka
1972	Spondan
1976	Feedback	Rock music
1978	Miles	Pop/Rock
1980	Nagar Baul	Hard rock, psychedelic rock		Chittagong
1980s	Different Touch	Pop/Rock		Khulna
1984	Warfaze	Hard rock, heavy metal music		Chittagong
1985	Rockstrata	Heavy Metal		Dhaka
1986	Nova	Rock music, Hard rock, Psychedelic rock
1991	Love Runs Blind	Alternative rock		Chittagong
	Ark	Pop rock
1993	Cryptic Fate	Progressive metal		Dhaka
1996	Shironamhin	Folk music, alternative rock, psychedelic rock
	Dalchhut	Rock music
1998	Aurthohin	Rock music, Heavy Metal
	Black	Rock music, alternative rock, grunge
	Poizon Green	Thrash/Power Metal	English
1999	Artcell	Progressive metal, progressive rock	Bangla
	Scarecrow	Thrash Metal, metal core
	Nemesis	Alternative rock
2000	Lalon	Rock
2001	Stentorian	Hard rock, heavy metal
	Vibe	Heavy Metal
	Satanik	Black Metal	English
2002	Arbovirus	Experimental music, alternative rock, Nu metal	Bangla
2004	Severe Dementia	Death Metal	English
	Funeral Anthem	Power Metal	Bangla
2005	Shohortoli	Theatrical rock
2006	De-illumination	Symphonic rock, symphonic metal
	Mechanix	Heavy Metal
	Powersurge	Thrash Metal
2007	Shunno	Pop rock
	Tribe	Acid Rock/Metal
	Bishorgo	Rock		Chittagong
	Sent Men Revolt	Spiritual Thrash, Thrash, Heavy Metal		Dhaka
	GrooveTrap	Funk, R&B, Soul	English

Fusion
Fusion, traditional music with Western instrumentation to revitalize and re-popularize Bengali music. Joler Gaan and Lampost are one of the best popular Fusion bands in Bangladesh. A new growing genre of Bangladesh music is contemporary urban music. The Bangla Youth Project by DJ AKS was one of the first Urban Bangla, RnB/Pop Music album in 2010. Most of the songs contained English and Bengali lyrics. Contemporary Urban music got popularity with the introduction of American and British television channels and Hollywood movies. Recently, there has been an 'Urban Bangla' scene growing in North America, Australia, and in particular the Asian Underground in the United Kingdom where there is also fusion going on between Sylheti music as well. Notable Urban Bangla artists include DJ AKS, Master-D, Shahrar Nizam, Stoic Bliss, Iksy, Char Avell, Bilal Shahid, Fuad, Mumzy Stranger, Redz & Ashboii, Muza and Nish.