Rock music of West Bengal

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Music of India
A Lady Playing the Tanpura, ca. 1735.jpg
A Lady Playing the Tanpura, ca. 1735 (Rajasthan)
Genres
Traditional
Modern
Media and performance
Music awards
Music festivals
Music media
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem Jana Gana Mana
Regional music
Bengali rock in India
Stylistic origins Rock and roll, electric blues, folk music, country, blues
Cultural origins 1960s-1970s, West Bengal (India), Tripura (India) and Assam (India)
Typical instruments Vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, synthesizer, keyboards
Derivative forms Bengali language and rock music
Subgenres
Alternative rock – art rock – baroque pop – beat music – Britpop – emo – experimental rock – garage rock – glam rock – grindcore – Group Sounds – grunge – hard rock – heartland rock – heavy metal – instrumental rock – indie rock – jangle pop – krautrock – madchester – post-Britpop – power pop – progressive rock – protopunk – psychedelia – punk rock – rock noir – soft rock – southern rock – surf – symphonic rock
(complete list)
Fusion genres
Aboriginal rock – Afro-rock – Anatolian rock – bhangra rock – blues rock – country rock – flamenco-rock – folk rock – funk rock – glam punk – indo-rock – industrial rock – jazz fusion – pop rock – punta rock – raga rock – raï rock – rap rock – rockabilly – rockoson – samba-rock – space rock – stoner rock – sufi rock
Regional scenes
West Bengal, Bangladesh (Bangladeshi rock)
Other topics
backbeat – rock opera – Bengali band – hall of fame – social impact

Rock music of West Bengal was originated in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The first known Bengali rock band was Moheener Ghoraguli and also India's first rock band.[1][2][3] In modern times, in this type of music distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums are used, and sometimes accompanied with pianos and keyboards and in early times the instruments used in the modern times were also accompanied by saxophone, flute, violin and bass violin.

History

Origin (1960s-1970s)

Bengali rock in Kolkata originated when the first band Moheener Ghoraguli was formed and played out in many concerts. The band was inspired by Bob Dylan and many other western artists. Their music was a mixture of a wide variety of influences, including the Baul and folk traditions of Bengali and rock.

Emergence (1990s)

Most of the Bengali rock bands in Kolkata were formed after the 1990s. The bands in this era started using many types of effects like distortion, wah wah, flanger, phaser, and delay in their music. Krosswindz, a Bengali rock band based in Kolkata, India was formed in 1990, and have played all over India and abroad, helping to urbanize and popularize the rock music of Bengal.Till now, Krosswindz have recorded ten albums, the highest number of ever recorded by a Kolkatan rock band. The legendary Bengali rock band Abhilasha was formed during this period. Their first album, a mixture of delightful rock and melody was released by the original band members in 1997. Many bands like Bhoomi, Cactus, Parash Pathar, Chandrabindoo, Hip Pocket, Fossils, and Lakkhichhara were formed later in this era. Fossils and Cactus have also brought Bengali metal into this era. Both Fossils and Cactus are regarded as the best Bengali hard rock bands, they have toured all over India and abroad. All their albums and singles have been successful. In 1994, the opening up of Someplace Else (a pub which also hosts live music) changed the rock scene in Kolkata. Now it hosts live music every single night for approximately nine hours.

New Millennium (2000s)

Many bands formed in the 2000s were influenced by guitar-heavy music. As metal became popular in the 2000s, many bands like Insomnia, Underground Authority started playing heavy metal and Alternative music. Chronic Xorn was the first band from Kolkata to record a heavy metal album. Death Destruction Sermon is their latest album which was released in 2010, it consists of six tracks and the full-length version of the album is 25 minutes 45 seconds.[4] As computer technology became more accessible and music software advanced in the 2000s, it became possible to create high quality music using little more than a single laptop computer. This resulted in a massive increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music available to the general public via the expanding internet. Many underground metal bands like Nitric Dreams and Crystal and the Witches from Kolkata also started recording and releasing singles on their blogs.To encourage the Bengali rock scene a magazine named Bangla Rock Magazine was started on July 3, 2013, covering exclusively Bengali rock.

Popular bands

Popular bands from Kolkata:

Year formed Band name Genre Language
1970 Moheener Ghoraguli Bengali rock Bengali
1990 Krosswindz Bengali rock, fusion Bengali, English
1990 Abhilasha Bengali rock band Bengali
1991 Chandrabindoo Bengali rock Bengali
1992 Cactus Bengali rock, hard rock Bengali
1996 Hip Pocket Rock, hard rock English
1998 Fossils Bengali rock, hard rock, metal Bengali, English
1999 Bhoomi Bengali rock Bengali
1999 Skinny Alley Rock, alternative rock English
1999 Lakkhichhara Bengali rock Bengali
2000 Eeshaan New Age Bengali rock, Bengali Rap rock, Hip Hop, Dance rock Bengali
2001 Cassini's Division Rock, alternative rock English
2002 Insomnia Bengali rock, alternative, English, Bengali
2005 Prithibi Bengali rock Bengali
2005 Agnish Bengali Rock, Hard rock, Rock n Roll Bengali
2006 Pinknoise Experimental rock, alternative rock English
2006 Pseudonym Alternative rock, hard rock English
2007 Five Little Indians Alternative rock English
2007 Chronic Xorn Metal, metalcore English
2007 The Svitch Classic Rock, Rock n Roll, Blues, Pop Rock, Country English [5]
2008 Calcutta Blues Bengali Rock Bengali
2010 Underground Authority Alternative rock, rap rock, hard rock Hindi, English, Bengali
2010 Psyclone Experimental Bengali
2012 Smooth Distortion Heavy/Thrash Metal,Alternative rock Bengali
2012 Prohor Bengali Rock Bengali
2013 Lotus Eater Alternative rock, rap rock, hard rock Hindi, English, Bengali
2014 Marichika Metal,Alternative rock,Bengali Rock Bengali,English,Hindi
2013 Cryptic Road Alternative Rock, Pop Rock Hindi,English,Bengali

|- | 2015 || Folk Mantra || Folk Rock (Basically they are working on world folk music) || Bengali,English,Assamese etc.

ReverbNation top 10 charts

Top 10 bands from Kolkata according to ReverbNation charts:

Rank Artist Genre
01 Soul unity of Rhythm Alt rock, metal
02
03 Delos Progressive
04 Chronic Xorn Metal / metalcore
05 Twist In Tale Alternative
06 sayo Rock
07 Cynical Recess Rock / melodic hard rock
08 Age of Chaos Metal / metalcore
09 Cassini's Division Alternative / hybrid
10 What Escapes Me Metal / metalcore

See also

References

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  5. ↑ http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31812&articlexml=BACK-TO-THE-GROOVY-60S-18062015103005

Further reading

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