In the 60's very few bands could be properly called "rock" or even "pop": among them were Windy Side Of Care, Lightnings, Rambling Stones, Ugly Phases, Insex Dui.
Musicians of the earlier days of Bangla rock did not have the privilege of expensive instruments or sound systems. But a common element followed through most of the talented musicians of all the eras. They were all self-taught which brought out a raw energy and initiated original scores. No recordings seem to be survived from that era.
Bangla pop rock, or simply a more "modern" kind of music was born after the 1971 independence with Azam Khan, a very talented singer who formed a pop rock band in 1971 called Uchcharon.
Before entering the music business he was a freedom fighter and he fought against the pakistany army during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.
He recentely died on June, 6th 2011 at the age of 61 because of lung cancer.
His best known hits were "Abar elo je shondha" along with "Obhimani", "Ashi ashi", "Highcourt er majare", "Ami jare chaire", "Orey Saleka", "Jibone kichu pabona re".
His song "Bangladesh" is featured on the Tape/CD Compilation album "Hooray!" (Sargam Records, 1991) along with other rock/metal bands as Rockstrata, Warfaze, In Dhaka and Reshad.
After 1971 modern rock bands emerged and got local success whith a handful of concerts. Unfortunately recording albums couldn't appear until early 80's due to lack of music studios and instruments.
First "modern" rock bands of the 70's were Miles, Souls, Feedback, Feelings, Winning and finally Waves, the very first heavy metal/hard rock band in Bangladesh.
-MILES were formed in 1978 in Dhaka and played classic pop rock. Original line up consisted of Happy Akhand (Keyboards), Farid Rashid (Bass), Hamin (Guitars), Shafin (Guitars), Shahedul Huda (Drums), Robin (Keyboard). All band members performed vocals except for the drummer. First concerts were held at Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka and their first TV appearance came in 1982. Their first S/T album came out in 1982 and contained 3 original songs and 7 cover songs, all sung in english.
In 1986 their second album, "Step further" was released, this time with 7 originals and 3 covers, all in english. More albums followed: "Prostitusi" (their first album in bangla language, 1991 which sold over 300,000 copies), "Prottasha" (1993), "Prottoy" (1996).
From 1986 to 1990 they mainly played concerts at Sonargaon Pan pacific Hotel and Coffee Shop, both in Dhaka. This witnesses the dramatic lack of other venues where to play rock music at the time, even for a successful band. In the 90's they played three times in India (Bangalore, 1991; Chandigarh 1994, Kolkata 1996) and once in Dubai and Abu Dhabi before embarking on a long US-Tour in 1996 to support their 5th album, "Prottoy". Their discography includes also a "Best Of" released for an american label and another "Best Of" made in India. During the period of maximum popularity, at the end of 90's, they played in front of 35,000 spectators.
"We have been inspired by blues, latin, jazz, rock and techno music," says Manam. "So our music is a combination of varied sounds and styles."
All their studio albums were re-released on CD by Sargam.
-FEEDBACK were formed in 1976 and musically they were pretty similar to MILES. Lead singer and most carismatic leader was Maksud Haque who was in the band until 1987. He was also the promoter and first president of BAMBA (Bangladesh Musical Band Association) from 1987 to 1991.
Discography (all the albums are available on CD):
-Feedback (1984, Sargam), Ullash/Feedback 2 (1987, Sargam), Mela (1990, Sargam), Bongabdo 1400 (1994, Soundtek), Joar (1995, Soundtek), Bauliana (1996, Soundtek)
-SOULS: They were formed in Chittagong in 1972 and later moved to te capital Dhaka. They played pop rock and released their first album in 1980 that is considered the first rock album released in Bangladesh. Original line up consisted of Sajed (G), Lulu (G), Roni (D), Tajul (V). Ayub Bachhu joined the band in 1977 as vocalist and later moved away to form his own band, L.R.B. They released their first album in 1980, "Super The Souls" which was distributed in 1982 only and up to 2006 they put out 9 more albums: "Colleger er corridorey" (1982), "Manus Matir Kacha Kachi" (1986), "East and West" (1988), "E Emon Porichoy" (1989), "Aj Din Katuk Gaane" (1992), "Oshomoyer Gaan" (1997), "Mukhorito Jibon" (2000, acoustic), "Tarar Uthan" (2003), "To Let" (2004), "Jhut Jhamela" (2006).
-FEELINGS: They play Folk/Rock/Psychedelic blues and are now known as Nagar Baul. Formed in mid 70's. Former member Bachhu later moved away to form Souls and later the successful pop/rock band L.R.B..Their discography is pretty huge and includes the folliwing albums: Laise fita laise (1998), Jail theke bolchi, Station road, Nagar baul (1996), Screwdriver (in collaboration with L.R.B.) 1998, Taray taraym, Je pothe pothik nei, Green room, Babylon, Bedouin, Collection
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ROCK AND HARD ROCK FROM THE 80'S:
In the 80's first rock albums appeared on the market: both from bands which already emerged in the 70's (Feelings, Souls, Miles, Feedback) and new names such as L.R.B. (formerly known as Jolly Rogers), Different Touch, Winning and Waves. In 1984 Aces, In Dhaka, Warfaze, Rockstrata and - partially - Waves created the first wave of "heavy metal" in Bangladesh. They were all students from the same University in Dhaka so it was easy for them to share rehearsal places and venues as well as band members. It was not only until 1990 that first heavy metal albums came out. Heavy metal concerts in the 80's were scarce and bad organised: Warfaze and Rockstrata played no more than 5-6 concerts in the whole decade as well as Aces (considered the earliest metal band in the country) played no more than 2 live shows. In the beginning they consisted of covers of western metal bands (Iron Maiden mainly, but also Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Rainbow).
During the mid 80's more pop rock successful bands were born: Different Touch, Winning, Rashed and finally L.R.B. in 1991.
-DIFFERENT TOUCH: They were from Khulna, formed around mid 80's and played pop/rock with lots of melody. Their only album, "Sraboner megh" is available on CD.
-RASHED was the band behind leader and guitarist Ibrahim Rashid. They played a very light progressive 70's rock with bangla folk elements. Their discography includes "Lesson 1"(1991) and "Lesson 2" (1993) both available on CD. Rashed (G), Nasser (K, Programmer), Masrur (V).
Not to be confused with RESHAD who released a S/T album in the middle of 90's and appeared on the "Hooray" Compilation Album in 1991 with a "remake" (to say less) of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in The Wall"
-L.R.B. started in 1991 and are one of the most successful pop rock bands ever in Bangladesh. Singer and guitarist Bachhu was in pop rock pioneers FEELINGS (from 1972 to 1976) and later in the folk/rock band SOULS (from 1976 where he played guitar). In 1991 he formed L.R.B. and their studio debut was in 1992 with a Double S/T Album. Their discography includes "Shukh" (1993), "Tobuo" (1994), "Ghumanto Shahare" (1995), "Shwapno" (1996), "Amader? Bishmoy!" (1998) and most recent releases. All the albums are available on CD.
-WINNING: They were the "missing link" between the pop/rock of traditional bands such as SOULS and FEELINGS and the new emergins sound of harder bands such as IN DHAKA, WARFAZE, ROCKSTRATA and SWEET VENOM. They were formed in 1983 by ex musicians who partnered with legendary pop singer Azam Khan in the 70's. Original line up was composed by Haider Hussain (V, G), Mitul (V, G), Ranjan (D, V), Shelly (B), Rana (K) while Fahim was the singer in the english songs.
During early years line up changed frequentely because some members were forced to migrate abroad for study or work purposes.
First S/T album came out in July 1991, with 12 tracks and sees Tipu from WARFAZE as drummer because original drummer Ranjan broke his fingers during a cricket match. Line up on the debut album was:
Chandan-Vocal and guitar
Ranjan-Vocal and drums
Shelly-Bass
Biplob-Keyboards
Tipu-Drums
Shajal-Manager
1991-1994 are other problematic years for line up: Shelly left for his career in Tea garden in Sylhet, Ranjan decided to ease from music and Shajal got busy with his business. Mobin (May Allah bless his soul) joined the band as bass guitarist. This not forbids the band to release its 2nd album in 1994, called "Ochena Shohore" (now available also on CD). The sound is a bit more hard and a handful of songs are definitively heavy metal: "Eka thaka", "Prio thikana", "Prodorshoni".
During the year 1995-1997 Mobin got very busy with his recording career, he was one of talented recordist and sound technician as our band industry ever had. Emon joined the band as drummer as Tipu left Winning for his personal reason. Jewel (Miles) joined Winning and perform several shows and left the band to join Miles. Two more promising musician joined later on, Schumann as bass guitarist, Rubayat as Guitarist, however, they also left after performing few gigs.
Finally, Morshed came along as Bass guitarist and Russell as guitarist and vocal joined the band. This lineup was more stable and Winning continued to perform very well in concerts and shows;
Lineup in 1998
Chandan-Vocal and guitar
Russell-vocal and guitar
Biplob-Keyboards
Morshed-Bass
Emon-Drums
Emon left the band in 1998 for personal reason. At that time Chandan went UK for a year to get higher education and came back in 1999. During this year Winning could not continue their regular activity. Most members migrated to Canada where got in touch with former members who settled there a while before. It was obvious to create a new "canadian" Winning beside the original band who was still living in Bangladesh with continuous line up changes.
Between 2001 and 2003 the "bangla" band has a sporadic activity while the "canadian" version was pretty more active with live shows. In 2003 both line ups suspended their activity and it was not until January 1st, 2011 that the band was re-united for a reunion show in Dhaka with most of the members who came and went from the band from 1983 to 2000.
Discography (all CDs are available on CD):
-Winning (1991)
-Ochena shohore (1994)
-Best Of (1997, Sargam)
-Probashe (2003, with most of the band's members from 1983 to 2000)
LATE 1980'S-EARLY 90'S AND THE BEGINNING OF HARD ROCK/EAVY METAL
In 1984 a handful of band sharing common musicians from the same College in Dhaka gave birth to the first wave of heavy metal in Bangladesh. Those first bands were called ROCKSTRATA, WARFAZE, IN DHAKA and ACES. and were performing mainly covers of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Dio. Recorded material came only in 1990-1991 and during the 80's very, very few concerts were held because of economical difficulties and impossibility to get proper instruments for live shows.
Just before WARFAZE, IN DHAKA, ACES and ROCKSTRATA were born, another band called WAVES was performing some heavy metal tunes during the only 2 live shows ever performed: WAVES, the very first hard rock band playing also some metal songs.
In the late 80's hopes of a new generation of metal bands was discouraged by terrible economical situation and the departure of many young musicians to USA, Canada or UK because of study or job. Until early 90's, 1992-1994 a handful of metal bands were born (ROCK BRIGADE/ROCK PHANTOM, POACHED BOOGIE, TRILOGIA, SWEET VENOM, JOLLY ROGERS) but none of them could record any album except for SWEET VENOM (whose Tape album is nowadays almost impossible to find). Only in 1993 with the appearence of CRYPTIC FATE (formerly known as JOLLY ROGERS), ARTCELL and AURTHOHIN a new wave of better equipped bands could make their way and get some relatively hige international success. After 1994-1995 the heavy metal scene in Bangladesh was much more stable and relatively consolidated with a wider offer of bands and first proper recordings appearing on the market.
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-WAVES. It's considered as the first heavy metal band in Bangladesh though they just limited to a handful of covers by Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden on stage along with hits of Led Zeppelin and Rainbow. First concert was at BTV in 1984 at BTV. They played one more concert later and then disappeared until 1994 when a new line up revived the band and recorded a Tape Album.
Line up consisted apparently of 4 brothers (one of them was Kamal on keyboards) and ex Rockstrata singer Mushfiq joined the reborn band in the early 90's though he does not appear on the only tape album ever recorded in 1994
Discography:
-S/T Tape album (1994). No other info known at the moment.
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-ACES. They were one of the very first metal bands in the country and got huge success despite they lasted 4 months only. They obviously never recorded anyhting and there is only 1 video show recorded on camera.. 1 of their song was later released by Sumon on Sumon O Aurthohin's 1st album (1993). The very first rock/metal band in Dhaka. Most members moved to USA/Canada for study and this marked the end of the band.
One show was held at BAMBA in 1992 (line up was: Kamal B, Sunjoy V, Tipu D, Emon (from CHIMES) K, Fuad G, Sayed G)
Original line up was:
Roby: V (moved to USA)
Shoumi: B (moved to Canada)
Romel: K (moved to USA, back in Bangladesh now)
Tipu: D (first drummer, member of WARFAZE too, replaced by Kishore)
Kishore: D (moved to USA)
Sayed: G
Fuad: G
A new reunion with original members + CD is planned but nothing is confirmed yet.
This is an interesting writing by singer Roby that I found on the Amadergaan forum (thanx for reproducing it!):
"I was the member ( Lead Vocals ) of the Band " Aces " . I read some of the articles here from other members who shared their thoughts .
Waves was actually the first rock band , they did probably a couple of shows and just vanished.
But the First real " heavy Metal Bands " who started the Era was:
1.Rockstrata
2.Warfaze
3.Aces
and 4.In-Dhaka
Aces broke because 4 members of the band left abroad.
1. Roby ( that's me ) went to usa
2.Shoumi ( Bass guiatar ) went to Canada
3.Romel ( key boards ) went to usa
and
4.Kishore ( drums ) also left for usa
All 4 members had to leave for educational purposes.
Only Sayed ( lead Guitar ) and Fuad ( Lead Guitar ) was left and they couldn't form the band again.
20 years later - Romel is in Dhaka now
Sayed and Fuad are still playing as guest musicians.
Shoumi and i are still in US and Canada.
Kishore: I don't know.
But yes those were the Golden days. When we first started we were unsure what the impact will be as Dhaka was not ready for Heavy Metal. We took a giant leap to test the waters and found out:
Dhaka was indeed ready . Fans loved Hard rock . Actually when i came to usa i found out Music wise " Bangladesh " is very advanced. We had the Best Fans , musicians than any other 3rd world countries. Even India was not upto the Limits what Bangladesh had.
The songs we performed in the 80's was awesome. Best years of my life guys.
Unfortunately we did not get a chance to release any albums. The band broke within 4 months as 4 of us had to leave .
The 4 bands Warfaze, Rock starata , In-dhaka and Aces we were all close friends and college buddy too
Most of us went to Notredame college in Dhaka.
Did you guys know Tipu, Shoumi and I was in a band together prior to Warfaze and Aces? The name of that band was " Hearts-:Line" formed in Mohammadpur. We did a couple of shows then the Band broke up because of the lead guitarist Kochi. Tipu went to Warfaze , Shoumi and I formed Aces together with Sayeed, Fuad , Romel. Later on Kishore joined in Drums."
Discography:
ACES never recorded anything and there is no trace of rehearsal/demo recordings as well. According to the Amadergaan forum there is only 1 home made video recording available
VIDEO: Recording of ACES live show at Gulshan in 1992 (with covers of Led Zeppelin and Kingdom Come)
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-IN DHAKA. In Dhaka was contemporary of WARFAZE, ROCKSTRATA and ACES. In fact they shared some common members and they all were students at the same college in Dhaka. It was the very first band to enter the recording studios in 1990, even before Rockstrata and Warfaze but the recording session lasted much longer than other bands due to line up problems. The album was out in late 1991 and the band already splitted up because of members who were forced to move abroad for study.
Original line up consisted of:
Tushar (V, B)
Joy (G) moved to Minneapolis. Now he has an experimental project band with Mashuk.
Gorki (V)
Tipu (D)
Russel (K)
Sentu (K)
Rozen (D)
Mashuk (G): moved to Minneapolis
Line up on the album (1990-1991):
Mashuq: G
Jay: G, V
Tushar: B, V
Gorky: V
Rajon (Rajen): D
Santo: K
Members appeared also in WARFAZE and ROCKSTRATA early albums.
Actually it's incorrect to define "IN DHAKA" as a heavy metal band. Despite a couple of tracks on the album and some more cover version during live shows (Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Guns'n'Roses) their music style is very soft and very traditional with a lot of melody and love songs.
Originally the album came out in late 1992 on tape only, with 10 tracks + 2 instrumental versions.
In late 90's SARGAM Records re-released it on a pro-printed CDR version (as well as all other CDR edition made at the time by Sargam) and it features the 10 studio tracks with 7 additional tracks but leaving out the 2 instrumental versions. I have no idea where these 7 bonus tracks were taken from. Probably they are some unreleased songs recorded during the same sessions (the album was recorded in different takes during several months). Also the artwork is a simple full color photo of the band members.
In recent years the whole SARGAM catalogue was reprinted on silver printed CD and IN DHAKA S/T album was included: this edition reflects the original tape edition with 10 tracks + 2 instrumentals and the artwork is improved with new cover showing a man walking on a guitar and some lines/cubes on the back.
IN DHAKA appeared also on the "Hooray" Compilation Tape (later on CD) in 1991 along with WARFAZE, ROCKSTRATA and RESHAD and also on a couple of CDR mixed albums put out by SARGAM Records in the late 90's.
Discography:
-S/T Album (1991, Sargam Records, only on tape). 10 studio tracks + 2 instrumental
-V.A.: Hooray Mixed Album (1991, Sargam Records, only on tape). 1 song taken from the album
-V.A.: Hits of metal band (199x, Sargam Records CDR CD-067). 3 songs taken from the album
-V.A.: Soft Rock Band Mix (199x, Sargam Records CDR CD-081). 1 unreleased song
-S/T ALBUM (199x, Sargam Records, CDR CD-036). 17 tracks edition (7 bonus tracks non on original tape)
-S/T ALBUM (200x, Sargam Records, CD-071/SACD 506). 12 tracks edition (same as original 1991 tape edition)
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-ROCKSTRATA. First of all there is absolute confusion on real band's name. On the cover artwork it is clearly written "Rockstrata" while on many sources the band is called "ROCKSTARTA" (also on the Matrix Code of the CD edition it is mispelled). Whatever it may be called, ROCKSTRATA were the very first heavy metal band to put out an album back in 1990. They entered the studios at the same time of their friends/schoolmates IN DHAKA but they managed to finish the recording session much earlier so that in summer 1990 the master was already done. The album was recorded at Jagoron Music Studios in Elephant Road, Dhaka.
Formed in 1984 at the same time of ACES, WARFAZE and IN DHAKA. Most members were playing also in IN DHAKA.
All the band members moved to Minneapolis shortly after the release of the album thus putting an end to the most influential metal band ever from the country. There are rumors of a reunion with original line up but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Original line up consisted of:
Imran Hussain: Guitars. Moved to Minneapolis. Currently has a Radiohead project band
Mainul Islam: Guitars. Moved to Minneapolis
Arshad Amin: Bass.
Mahbubur Rashid: Drums.
Mushfiq Ahmed: Vocals
other members during the years were:
Kana Bhai: Later in hard rock band Miles
Mashuk (Ex IN DHAKA): Moved to Minneapolis
Joy (Ex IN DHAKA): Moved to Minneapolis
Tushar (Ex IN DHAKA): Moved to Minneapolis.
From their official biography on Myspace:
Rockstrata was the first Heavy Metal band in Bangladesh in the mid 80's. Their first and only album was put out in 1991. After the album, guyz took a break from it and that was the end of the band. Guitarist Imran is still playing and he was with quite a few bands in Minneapolis, MN's local music scene and had some projects done. He was/is one of the best guitar player in Bangladesh. Rest of the members got busy with their busy lives and not involved with music much. There are so many metal bands in Bangladesh right now and Rockstrata is a great inspiaration to those bands. Rockstrata has been and will be a Legend of Metal heads of Bangladesh Metal music history. On the new years eve 2007, the guitar players and the drummer got back together for a jam in Minneapolis and a fun gig. Few clips are below as an example of that. And it was great having them together again. ~peace~ MAINUL's Few Words:::::-::::::""The very first 'practice' that I remember was at Imran's Bailey Road house after a major exam. I think it was after the class 8 or 9 finals. Mahbub played drums on a plastic chair and Imran and I tried playing NIB and Paranoid on the accoustic. It was raining pretty hard, power went out, and we played in the fluorescet glow of the emergency lamps. It was great. Felt almost like being on stage. I think we used accoustic guitars and chairs for the next year or so, and eventually moved on to electric guitars and amps. We used to borrow instruments a lot. Drums, being so big and expensive, were always borrowed. As were good amps. I had a guyatone (maybe 15 watts) and we plugged both guitars into it. By the way, this guyatone used to belong to Shuvro of another pioneering band 'Freezing Point'. They were a little before my time and I never got see them. But there was a mystique about what they were and what they could've become. We also had one distortion effect to start with. So we used to wire the jacks from two guitars into this Indian-made distortion box. It was called a fuzz-pedal. Among other fun facts, I remember playing a Strat that at one time belonged to the guitarist from Waves - Mahmood bhai (??) I think his name was (forgot his name, so sorry.) The name RockStrata was suggested by Mahbub one evening in his apartment balcony. We unanimously agreed as soon as it was mentioned that it's *us*. The very first 'show' was at Notredame College. There was an award ceremony and someone mentioned that they were looking for a band (was it Tipu of warfaze? ). Our name was suggested and we played some originals, 'Fool on the highway' and 'Song of the lost warrrior' by Mainul (heheh). The principal was not very pleased with heavymetal. So a second show proposed by some of the students was turned down. We (the band and our ton of friends) got upset and almost on a dare decided to do a real concert at a commercial venue. For the commercial show, we used my Dad's connections to get the Engineer's Institute auditorium. We decided that we needed one more band to share the risk and make the show last long enough for fans. The second band was a group of friends that included Tipu, Shumon (Abida Sultana's Brother), Emon (the other brother and successful musician/producer), and others. They called themselves 'Friends'. So the concert was billed as 'Rockstrata and Friends'. Tickets were printed at a press right behind Shumon/Emon's house. Everyone helped sell tickets: Notredame students to Imran's driver Yakub bhai. I think many of the sellers were also printing tics. But who cares? It was all in fun, not for the money. We didn't have monitors on the stage. Didn't know we needed them. Sutpid. The first song was paranoid. I ran on stage as I was headbanging and realized I can't hear anything that is going out. I spent most of the rest of the show on the right side of the stage where one speaker was, tring to hear what we were playing. It was a little unnerving at first, and we probably sounded like shit, but people seemed to like the type of music were trying to play. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. And all in all, no one seemed to mind too much that we were not very good then"
DISCOGRAPHY:
-Rockstrata S/T CD 1990/1991 (Sargam Records, available on a recent silver printed CD edition. Previously released on tape only and on CDR during the 90's)
-VV.AA.: Hooray! CD 1991 (Sargam Records. With 1 song taken from the LP. Originally released on tape only, recentely re-released on silver printed CD by Sargam)
-VV.AA.: Hits of metal band CDR 199x (Sargam Records 2 songs taken from the LP)
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-WARFAZE.
Warfaze is a hard rock band from Bangladesh with elements of heavy metal and progressive metal/progressive rock in some of their songs. They were one of the first such bands of this genre in the country and still one of the most successful nowadays.
From their official biography:
Warfaze was formed on 5th June, 1984. The initial line up was made up of: Kamal - bass guitar, Helal - drums, Mir - lead guitar, Naimul - lead guitar Bappi - vocal.
At this stage, the band was not very popular. The initial line up did not continue for long either. Helal, Mir and Bappi had to leave the band for personal reasons. Kamal started playing the lead guitar for the band at this stage and the rest of he positions were filled with Babna as the bassist, Tipu as the drummer and Rashed as the vocalist. This second line up had to be discontinued when Naimul immigrated to the USA. During that time, there were three other Dhaka-based metal bands: Rockstrata, In Dhaka and Aces. Mashuk, the lead guitar of In Dhaka, and Fuad (of the same band) volunteered to help Warfaze as a guest member. Early days Early on, Warfaze only played cover music of American and British bands. On 26 April 1991 for the first time they performed their own songs at a concert arranged by BAMBA in University of Dhaka. Soon, almost coincidentially, several members of the various metal bands in Bangladesh started to immigrate to different countries, mainly for education purposes. The bands decided to make a mixed album but as it turned out Warfaze had enough songs (and popularity) to be able to release a solo album. So, they released their self-titled album, Warfaze, in 1991. Back in the 1990's Bangladeshi music listener were still new to metal. Any lyrics other than those inspired by romanticism or patriotism were rare. It took several weeks before the album started to be appreciated. They did their first follow up concert on 07 January 1992 at the Rawa Club. Kamal, the lead guitarist, is helping another band, Moshpit, to make a new underground album. Kamal is also helping, Aurthohin, another pioneering Bangladeshi rock band, as a lead guitarist. Changes in band line up Warfaze, since their inception, has changed their line up numerous times. Here is a list of the more stable ones: First line up Riyad - vocal Emon - lead guitar Naimul - lead guitar Rajib - bass guitar Pappu - drums No albums released Second line up Babna - lead guitar Tipu - drums and percussion Kamal - lead guitar Mashuk - lead guitar (member of band In Dhaka, but worked as fill-in) Rashed - vocal No albums released Third line up Sunjay - vocal Kamal- lead guitar Babna - bass guitar and back-up vocal Russell - keyboard and second lead guitar Tipu - drums and percussion Released albums: Warfaze (28th June, 1991. Recorded on 26 April 1991) Obak Bhalobasha (5th September, 1994) Awards Coca-Cola BAMBA Music Award for the title song of Obak Bhalobasha Fourth line up Sunjay - vocal Kamal- lead guitar Babna - bass guitar and back-up vocal Fuad - keyboard and second lead guitar Tipu - drums and percussion Released albums: Jibondhara (5th February, 1997) Dhun (with other artists) Hit, Run and Out (with other artists) Fifth line up Sunjay - vocal Kamal - lead guitar Shumon - bass guitar and vocal Jewel - second lead guitar and vocal Fuad - keyboard and percussion Tipu - drums Released Albums Oshamajik (April 2, 1998) Sixth line up Mizan - vocal Kamal - lead guitar Balam - second lead guitar and back-up vocal Biju - bass guitar and back-up vocal Shams - keyboard and back-up vocal Tipu - drums and percussion Released album: Alo (2000) Seventh line up Balam - vocal and lead guitar Sazzad - lead guitar and back-up vocal Shams - keyboard Cezan - bass guitar Tipu - drums and percussion Released album: Moharaj (June, 2003)
Another biography taken from somewhere:
Warfaze was actually formed back in 1984 , Kamal, Mir, Hell, Naimul and Bappy started a line up and after a very short time Tipu joined the band as drummer and band leader. They started the journey to do some real good hard rock and heavy metal music in bangladesh. It seemed successful when the first album came out in 1991 with the line up of: Vocals-Sunjay , guitars- Kamal , keyboard/guitars-Russel, bass-Babna ,drums -Tipu. After the first album , Kamal and Russel left for their studies abroad , it was very much tuff to keep the band alive when half of the members are abroad. Though Tipu Sticked to the band and kept contact with the members ,when Kamal or Russel came for vacation, Tipu held the recording sessions , this way they finished he second album- OBAK BHALOBASHA ,which was a big hit. Then again, problems showed up. Russel had to leave for usa for good after releasing second album. Fuad joined the band and started working for the third album ''jibondhara". It came out in 1997 and smashed out to be a big hit. But once again Babna had to leave the band and move to the United States. Replacing Babna, Sumon joined the band on bass , Jewel on guitars and vocals. Warfaze released the fourth album-OSHAMAJIK in 1998 , as warfazes tradition, it also came out to be a hit. Then came out the biggest problem to face , Sunjay -lead vocal had to leave for his personal problems . It was a really tuff job to find out the replacement of sunjay , The band stood still for 2 years and in 2000 the found out Mizan for lead vocals . In the same time Balam joined the band as guitarist and second vocalist, Shams on keyboards , Biju took the bass, and Kamal and Tipu stood still on guitars and drums. They released their 5th album-ALO ,this album also went out a hit . After the album alo, Kamal was unable to maintain the band for his family and business problems , in this situation Sazzad joined the band full time in guitars. Warfaze did lot of shows in that line up. But again in 2002 february , the bassist biju had to leave for canada. Cezan from artcell joined in and still warfaze did a lot of shows with the line up. Then in the middle of 2002 , it seemed warfaze got a bad luck in vocals , Mizan left the band for his business and solo carriere, Balam the 2nd vocalist came out to be the main vocalist as he was very much sufficient for the job. By that time Kamal rejoined the band again. And warfaze started recording of their 6th album which was named ''MOHARAJ''.This album was released on june 2003 with the line up of: Balam:lead vocals,guitars Kamal : guitars Sazzad: guitars, vocals Shams: keyboards Cezan : bass Tipu :Drums and percussion and bandleader Monty : Band management and photography No doubt warfaze fought for music and will always and this was proved again when Cezan left the band due to be in too much pressure playing in two bands-Artcell and Warfaze and also for his studies.Shagor took the bass for a short time but then Roger(Metal-Maze)joined in warfaze to continue the traditional bass. One thing must be mentioned that Tipu deserves a big credit to hold warfaze still loud and proud.
“In 1984 the scenario was different,” said Tipu. “People used to be like, ‘what is that racket?’ when they heard rock music. Metal was nowhere in sight! Of course, in course of time all that was to change. It took around 20 years and we had to struggle a lot.”
Sunjay the singer, retired from the band due to personal reasons in the late 1990s and Mizan preceded over him. He has a high-pitch falsetto style of singing. He has performed occasionally after his retirement from music, such as in the reunion concert of Warfaze. His voice was a part of the signature sound of early Warfaze.
Line Ups:
Warfaze first showed up on the music scene of Bangladesh in 5th june, 1984. The initial line up was made up of:
Kamal - bass guitar
Helal - drums
Mir - lead guitar
Naimul - lead guitar
Bappi - vocal
At this stage, the band was not very popular. The initial line up did not continue for long either. Helal, Mir and Bappi had to leave the band for personal reasons. Kamal started playing the lead guitar for the band at this stage and the rest of he positions were filled with Babna as the bassist, Tipu as the drummer and Rashed as the vocalist. This second line up had to be discontinued when Naimul immigrated to the USA.
During that time, there were three other Dhaka-based metal bands: Rockstrata, In Dhaka and Aces. Mashuk, the lead guitar of In Dhaka, and Fuad (of the same band) volunteered to help Warfaze as a guest member. Soon Reshad started having difficulties with other members of the band and Mashuk and Fuad found themselves overcommitted and they all had to quit, leaving Warfaze in search of members yet again.
In 1990, Warfaze eventually came across Sunjay and Russell who joined the band as the vocalist and keyboardist respectively. Thus the first stable line up of Warfaze was:
Sunjay - vocal
Kamal- lead guitar
Babna - bass guitar and back-up vocal
Russell - keyboard and second lead guitar
Tipu - drums
Early days
Early on, Warfaze only played cover music of American and British bands. On 26 April 1991 for the first time they performed their own songs at a concert arraged by BAMBA in University of Dhaka. Soon, almost coincidentially, several members of the various metal bands in Bangladesh started to immigrate to different countries, mainly for education purposes. The bands decided to make a mixed album but as it turned out Warfaze had enough songs (and popularity) to be able to release a solo album. So, they released their self-titled album, Warfaze, in 1991.
Back in the 1990's Bangladeshi music listener were still new to metal. Any lyrics other than those inspired by romanticism or patriotism were rare. It took several weeks before the album started to be appreciated. They did their first follow up concert on 07 January 1992 at the Rawa Club.
Changes in band line up
Warfaze, since their inception, has changed their line up numberous times. Here is a list of the more stable ones:
First line up
Kamal - bass guitar
Helal - drums
Mir - lead guitar
Naimul - lead guitar
Bappi - vocal
Second line up
Babna - lead guitar
Tipu - drums and percussion
Kamal - lead guitar
Mashuk(In Dhaka) - lead guitar
Rashed - vocal
Third line up
Sunjay - vocal
Kamal- lead guitar
Babna - bass guitar and back-up vocal
Russell - keyboard and second lead guitar
Tipu - drums and percussion
Released albums Warfaze (28th June, 1991) and Obak Bhalobasha (5th September, 1994)
Coca-Cola BAMBA music Award for the title song of Obak Bhalobasha
Fourth line up
Sunjay - vocal
Kamal- lead guitar
Babna - bass guitar and back-up vocal
Fuad - keyboard and second lead guitar
Tipu - drums and percussion
Released album Jibondhara (5th February, 1997) Released album Osamajik (2nd April, 1998) Released mixed album Dhun and Hit, Run and Out
Fifth line up
Mizan - vocal
Kamal- lead guitar
Shumon - bass guitar
Jewel - second lead guitar
Fuad-keyboard and percussion
Tipu - drums
Sixth line up
Mizan-vocal
Kamal-lead guitar
Balam-second lead guitar and back-up vocal
Biju-bass guitar and back-up vocal
Shams-keyboard and back-up vocal
Tipu-drums and percussion
Released album Alo (2000)
Seventh line up
Balam-vocal and lead guitar
Sazzad-lead guitar and back-up vocal
Shams-keyboard
Cezan-bass guitar
Tipu-drums and precussion
Released album Moharaj (June, 2003)
Discography:
Warfaze (1991. Sargam Records. Originally on tape only. Re-released on CDR by Sargam during the 90's and on silver printed CD always by Sargam in recent times)
Obak Bhalobasha (1995. Sargam. Tape and CD)
Jibondhara (1997. CD)
Oshamajik (1998. CD)
Poothi chola (2008. CD. G-Line Series)
Compilations:
-Hooray (1991. Tape/CD re-release). 1 song taken from 1st album
-Hits of metal bands CDR (Sargam Records, 199x). 1 song taken from 1st album
-Soft rock band mix CDR (Sargam Records, 199x). 1 song taken from 1st album
-Dhun and hit CD (1998)
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VARIOUS ARTISTS: "Hooray!" Mixed Album 1991 (Tape/CD. Sargam Records)
Originally appeared as a tape edition only, this compilation (called "Mixed album" in Bangladesh) features previously released songs by WARFAZE, IN DHAKA, ROCKSTRATA and RESHAD among others. Quality differs from track to track and if WARFAZE and ROCKSTRATA are definitively metal (though RS track has an awful production and recording), IN DHAKA is hard rock and RESHAD simply steal the whole riffing from Pink Floyd's classic "Another brick in the wall" altering only the lirycs fitting them in bangla language.
Another nice track is AZAM KHAN's "Bangladesh", supposedly with some nationalistic lyrics considering the singer previous experience as a freedom fighter during the liberation war in 1971. The legendary hero/pioneer of bangla pop rock offers a nice, enjoyable song. It's good rock/hard rock with a couple of nice solos: actually in some parts it sounds like some sicilian (!) traditional song but who cares...it's nice to hear.
The rest is boring rock/pop/folk with big names (Winning, Lesson 1, Ark) but this is the first (and only) compilation album (pardon: mixed album) with heavy metal bands to be released in Bangladesh until 2001. Better than nothing. Originally appeared on tape only, it was released on CD a few years ago by now defunct SARGAM Records.
The complete tracklist is:
01 - RESHAD: cover of "Another brick in the wall"
02 - IN DHAKA: Song taken from their S/T album
03 - ROCK STRATA: Song taken from their S/T album
04 - AZAM KHAN: Bangladesh (unreleased ?)
05 - WARFAZE: Song taken from their S/T album
06 - LESSON 1: Song taken from their S/T album
07 - WINNING: Song taken from their S/T album
08 - FAITH: Unknown song
09 - PROMITHIOUS: Unknown song
10 - ARK: Song taken from some previously released album
11 - WINDS: Unknown song
12 - SYMPHONY: Unknown song
Available for the 1st time on CD by Sargam Records who re-released a 2-3 years ago.
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Other minor and less known bands appeared during 1990-1993. Most of them couldn't record anything and lasted just for a couple of shows.
Information are, obviously, scarce and incomplete. Unfortunately every contact in Bangladesh couldn't supply me with further details.
-POACHED BOOGIE: They played 2 shows only: one at Sheraton and one at American School around 1990 or 1991. Line up composed by some americans (!) living in Dhaka. Nothing else is known. Probably formed around 1990-1991 or even in 1989. No recording is known to exist.
-ROCK BRIGADE/PHANTOM LORD. ROCK BRIGADE played Black Sabbath and Deep Purple cover songs and were formed around 1991-1992. They made a couple of live shows before changing name into PHANTOM LORD around 1993. Around 1995 some members formed KIRTINASHA (hard rock) and released one tape album in 1995.
No recording available under the monickers ROCK BRIGADE/PHANTOM LORDS.
-JOLLY ROGERS: Formed in 1992, they played Iron Maiden covers on stage. After a few live shows they changed name in AURTHOHIN in 1993.
-SWEET VENOM: This is the first band of Ditio Bhai, a talented guitarist/singer who moved to London in the late 90's.
Sweet Venom are considered one of the first "metal" bands coming out of Dhaka in the late 80's though their only tape album was recorded pretty late (in 1993) with a 2 pieces line up (Ditio covering all instruments and Sunjoy on backing vocals) and the music style changed a lot into a sort of Nu Metal/Crossiver/Hard Rock style influenced by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.
Few information are available. For sure they were born around 1988 and played cover songs of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath during the (few) live shows. Ditio plays in Darksyed now, an electronic/dark experimental project based in London.
Original line up:
Ditio Bhai: Vocals, Guitars. G. Moved to London. Played vocals, guitars and bass on the Tape
Joy: Drums (brother of Sunjoy). Not present on the album
Sumon: Bass (later in Aurthohin). Not present on the album
Sunjoy (Warfaze): Backup guest vocals on the Tape
Discography:
-S/T Tape Album (recorded in 1993). Never released on CD. Very hard to find. Style: Progressive rock/soft rock
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MID 90'S BANDS:
In 1993 new, promising bands are born: ARTCELL, CRYPTIC FATE and AURTHOHIN (formerly known as JOLLY ROGER). Other bands were formed during this second wave of heavy metal but they couldn't get the same success as the 3 above mentioned bands.
-AFTER DEATH: were formed around 1994-1995. nothing is known.
-FIRE'N'DEATH (later renamed X-URINIUM). No info available.
-GBH. No info available.
-PERSPECTIVES: Apparentely no studio recordings except for 1 song on the CDR Compilation "Hits of Metal band". Hard rock/AOR.
-TRILOGIA/MAESTRO TRILOGY: Covers of Iron Maiden. Formed around 1993-1994. No studio recordings. No other info available.
-GLAD TIDERS: 1 tape album recorded around 1999. Experimental hard rock/fusion/progressive/shred with heavy touches.
Line up consisted of
Gibran: Guitars.
Daiyan: Drums. Active since 1998. Appears on "Hits of metal band" CDR (Sargam Records)
Here a rare video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJQT83J3Klk
From Gibran's memories:
Gald Tiders were a jamming band. We almost never composed a song. We recorded every thing at one take and all of them were impromptu jammings. Even the lyrics.
We had a lot of fun doing these all nighters. When B&H sponsored our CD, they also gave us the permission to either sell or give away the CDs, any thing we prefer. We never wanted to sell them, so we ended up giving away 3000 of our CDs fo free. most of it went to that useless place called North South Uni, where most people took the CDs but I bet haven't even heard 'em.
It's very Experimental. We were touching trying to reach the dimensions of cultures of music rather then types of music.
If you like Jammings Immortal Butterfly, then you might even like this CD.
Gibran.
ex- GT
-RESHAD: 1 song on Hooray (cover of The Wall, also featured on "Hits of metal band"). 1 album recorded: "Reshad Grohantory" (also known as "Sritir shohore").
They are "famous" for completely copying "Another brick in the wall" by Pink Floyd simply substituting the english lyrics with bangla lyrics. I wonder if it was made on purpose or the rock platea in Bangladesh at those times was ingorant enough to ingore that.
The same song appeared first on the "Hooray" Compilation Album released by Sargam Records in 1991 and later on the CDR "Hits of Metal Band" released by Sargam on CDR in the late 90's.
No info available. The only album recorded is still available at some indian/bangla shops but I couldn't find any info nor a cover or even a release year. Presumebly made in the second half of the 90's.
Discography:
-1 song on "Hooray!" Mixed Album (1991, Sargam Records, Tape/CD)
-1 song on "Hit of metal bands" (199x, Sargam Records, CDR)
-Album: Reshad Grohantory aka Sritir shohore (199x, Sargam Records, CDR)
Some songs: Grohantory Bhalobahsa, Tumi Ki, Pothohara, Ekla Ghar, Amaki Ney, Shuker Dokol, Moni Pore,
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-CRYPTIC FATE
from their official biography:
Originally influenced by classic 80s metal, the band’s sound has continued to mature and evolve into a unique style that now bears little or no resemblance to the original. Starting out as a purely Heavy Metal band, their first studio album was "Ends are Forever" recorded in 1994 but released in 1998 only, which was written entirely in English. Their sound started to take a drastic turn during the years following the release of their second studio album, 'Sreshto' (recorded in 1997 and released later, as usual, in 2001) a concept album about the liberation war of Bangladesh. In 2006, they released 'Danob', their third full length effort. The album was nothing short of the best progressive metal had to offer, and marked such a departure from their original sound it would be impossible for one unfamiliar with their music to guess that they are the same group.
They played no more than 3-4 shows during all the 90's.
Albums:
-End is forever: recorded in 1994, released in 1998
-Shreshto: recorded in 1997, released in 2001
-Danob: 2006
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-AURTHOHIN
Hard rock/Heavy metal/Funk/Progressive. Formed in 1993 by Sumon (Bass+Vocals). Formed known as Jolly Roger.
Aurthohin is a Bangladeshi hard rock & metal band formed in 1993 by bassist, singer and songwriter Sumon, known mostly by his stage name BassBaba, who has remained the sole constant member. In the late 1997 the name of the band was changed from Sumon O' Aurthohin to Aurthohin (Bangla for 'meaningless'). They are known for their mix of melodic acoustic numbers and extremely heavy metal numbers in their albums often containing lots of bass slaps, taps & solos. In the recent years that had also seen a kind of nu-punk and alternative rock shadows also cast on their songs. They have released five albums till now. In 2008 they released their album Aushomapto-1 with the lineup consisting of lead guitas Kamal, vocals & drummer Rafa and lead guitas & keyboards Shishir, and Sumon as the lead vocals and bassist.
Initially, there was no band. The idea of a band, and the name of the band (Aurthohin) came from Sumon's solo project, Sumon O Aurthohin. The album, released while Sumon was still a member of Bangladeshi metal pioneers WARFAZE, featured vocals and bass work by Sumon and a slew of guest artists and musicians. One particular track, the titular "Aurthohin", featured eight of the most prominent guitarists of the era playing a collection of 27 solos, while the vocals were supplied by the then-vocalist of WARFAZE, Sunjoy.
Saidus Salehin Khaled played bass for a few bands before starting his solo career. These include local pioneers WARFAZE and FEELINGS. In 1993 Sumon quit FEELINGS and started to work on his first solo project 'Sumon O' Aurthohin' meaning 'Sumon and the meaningless'.
First line up was:
Sumon: Vocal, Bass and Guitar
Titi (Faith): Drums
Sentu (Faith): Bass
Zubair: Flute
Adnan: Percussion
Tonmoy: Guitar
On the title track 'Aurthohin' collaborated with eight heavy metal guitarists of the country and included twenty eight guitar/bass solos.Though work on the album was done long time ago, it was finally released in 1997. People liked the album which also got positive review from the critics. Sumon was planning to form a band so Titi (drums) & Sentu (bass) of 'Faith' along with came along to help him. Soon with some other musicians Sumon started performing under the name Sumon O' Aurthohin, same as the album.
Titi and Sentu had to leave the band in October'97 as they had to make time for their own band Faith. Rumie the drummer left his band 'The Trap' and filled in. Sumon changed the name of the band to simply 'Aurthohin'. Zubair and Adnan left the band few months later. Until now, the band's sound was more unplugged. To bring more variety to the sound, Shovon came in as a guitarist and vocalist.
Discography:
Sumon O' Aurthohin (1994, released in 1997)
Shopnogulo Tomar Moto (2001)
Megher Deshe (A Tribute to John Denver) (2004)
Akhon Ami (Duet with Anila) (2006)
Trimatrik (2000)
Biborton (2001)
Notun Diner Michile(2002)
Dhrubok (2003)
Sumon O' Aurthohin-2: Boka Manushta (2007)
Aushamapto-1 (2008)
LATE 90'S/EARLY 2000'S BANDS:
-METAL WARRIORS
-KOPROPHILIA. Released an album and some compilation tracks which I had but went lost when I came back to Italy. Formed in 1998.
-MISANTHROPE
-CLOVERMIND: Formed in 1998
-SPANKING MONKEYS: Formed in 1998
-THRASHOLD: A very good band formed in 1998
-ENTRANCE: 1 album recorded in early 2000's
-DEVIL'S DEN: Complete shit according to many.
-RE-BITS
-PSYCHODETH. Thrash. Played wth Dethrow in 1996 (400 people). More shows in 1997 and 1998 With Vashkor on Vocals and Rony on Guitars
-MIGRAINE: Started in 1998. Covers of RATM, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
-DETHROW. Covers of Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Megadeth. 1 song (Shesh nishshash) released on "Aguntok 2" Compilation. Played with Psychodeth in 1996
Debut album was announced to be recorded in 2002-2003.
They have also a Demo recorded but band members refuse to spread it: "We do have some early recordings but releasing them would mean the end of our careers.
We became a serious band after Munaid and Galib joined the band and we threw our bassist out and Shakib joined as our parmanent Bass player.
So no point in looking back before that era"
Munaid: Guitars.
Gibran: Vocals
Galib: Drums
-METAL MAZE: Formed in 1999. Debut album was recorded in 2002: "Corporate robot" (availabe in shops)
-NEMESIS: Formed in 1999
-STENTORIAN
Stentorian is a Heavy Metal band from Bangladesh formed in the early 2001. Stentorian released one commercially successful album Protimuhurtey in 2005 and several commercially successful singles. Their most notable songs include Adrissho Juddho, Bishonno Adhaar, Bidrohi, Jolosrot, Anubhuti, Mone pore na and most recently Chhobi. Stentorian is regarded as one of the pioneers of underground heavy metal music movement which re-energized heavy metal in Bangladesh in this current decade. Perhaps Stentorian is most notable for being led by two of the greatest Bangladeshi rock vocalists of all time, Torsha Khan and and for their commercially successful single Bishonno Adhaar where they featured Sumon from Aurthohin.
Stentorian is typically classified as heavy metal, but it ranges from soft rock, power ballad to thrash metal and most recently progressive metal. Stentorian's approach has remained the same over the band's career, preferring to play what they enjoy and do best; their appreciation of early rock and heavy metal is reflected in some of their occasional cover songs. Stentorian's heavy metal lyrics typically cover such topics as war, good versus evil, abuse of power, psychological depression, social disorder and politics. Stentorian’s popular soft music lyric contains love, affection and emotional appeal.
Stentorian's first line-up had Torsha Khan (Vocals), James Kabir (guitar), Shams Alim Biswas (bass), Golam (guitar), and Bobby Khan (drum). After hard practice and patience of 10 months Stentorian got their first ever break at a concert in the Indian High Commission Auditorium, Dhaka (27 October 2001). From the very first show, Stentorian had a kick start. Torsha's vocal performance was widely praised among the critics and other fellow musicians. Around 2003, Golam left the band and went abroad for higher studies. However, the band continued performing on shows and kept on writing songs.
Stentorian got their first big break to participate in Aguntuk -2, a band mixed album coordinated by Bassbaba Sumon. Nevertheless, they had to sacrifice Torsha because that’s when he had to leave Bangladesh for higher studies (later immigration). Members somehow managed to record the vocal tracks for Adrissho Juddho & Bhoy. Both the songs were later released that year respectively in the mixed albums Aguntuk-2 and Dinbodol. Adrissho Juddho instantly became both commercial and critical success over the nation (later, a cult classic). Torsha's voice was commended over internet forums, musical magazines and TV shows as his voice resembled Ronnie James Dio, which Torsha himself declared his idol. Though Torsha left Bangladesh for Australia, he remained as an inactive member of the band and Bobby left the band as well.
In 2004, when Stentorian’s fate was at stake and members were thinking about breaking up and forming own projects; Torsha, who was still with the band suggested his childhood friend’s name who was none other than Tanim. After Torsha’s repeated request Tanim (previously working with D.o.B) joined Stentorian in September 2004. On the first concert with his new band Tanim literally smashed all the bands away and put a full-stop to the “just-standing-up-with-a-microphone-age” with his energetic and powerful performance. Tutul Rashid and Rafiul Habib also joined at this time.
Tanim’s powerful performance and unique ability of delivering in both baritone and tenor range, took Stentorian into a whole different dimension. James and Tutul’s dominant guitar playing along with Rafiul’s drums and Shams’ bass playing; it was not a surprise that the band had performed in more than 100 concerts in 2005 alone. During this era, Stentorian was often quoted as “The most popular band of underground” in so many places including internet forums, newspaper, magazines, etc. Stentorian took the major leap to their mainstream success as Bishonno Adhaar was released, which featured Bassbaba Sumon from Aurthohin (Bishonno Adhaar is the first ever featured song in Bangladesh). Bishonno Adhaar became an instant success all over the nation and Stentorian got their second classic. Stentorian received almost 100% positive reviews from the leading musicians and legends of Bangladesh. Tanim and James gained cult following with the song as they were fondly nicknamed by their fans "MeTaL GuRu" and "Rocket Roll V" respectively. With the huge success of Bishonno Adhaar, Stentorian did their first ever national tour. After the tour, they signed up with G-Series, a major musical label of Bangladesh. Stentorian concentrated on recording of their debut album.
Torsha came back to Bangladesh only for a month in August 2005. Stentorian took a quick approach and recorded six songs with Torsha. Torsha couldn't perform any concert due to the shortage of time. After Torsha's departure, Stentorian fully concentrated on the album and on October 2005 Stentorian's debut album Protimuhurtey was released. Protimuhurtey became people's popular band with the sales of more than “way above five figures” copies nationwide (considered Gold). Songs like Jolosrot, Mone Pore na and Onubhuti became people's favorite, and they are often sung by the young generation.
After 1 year of irregular activity and ultimate departure of Torsha and Shams from the band, Stentorian restarted its journey once again with a track on the mixed album Rock 101, Choritrohin. Anabeel Sen replaced Shams on Bass. Choritrohin gained much critical attention as the song narrates secret desires of a perverted rapist. Stentorian announced that they are releasing second album soon enough, which is expected at Christmas 2010. Stentorian started national tour once again and started to appear at media regularly. In 7 March 2010, a brand new song was released from the second album as an album preview, Chhobi. The song was also made available for free download. Chhobi gave Stentorian a new image, and it statistically proved as the most popular song of Stentorian as this song was downloaded more than 45000 times from its original hosting only. Stentorian's 4 June 2010 live show at ABC Radio was attended by thousands of fans around Dhaka city. Till date Stentorian is working on their 2nd album and so far 8 songs have been recorded.
Discography
Studio albums
2005: Protimuhurtey[26][27]
2010: Untitled second album (Announced)[28][29]
Compilation tracks
2004: Adrissho Juddho (Agontuk-2)
2004: Bhoy (Dinbodol)
2005: Nilkal (Lokayot)
2005: Bishonno Adhaar (feat. Bassbaba) (Agontuk-3)
2008: Choritrohin (Rock 101)
Band members
Tanim "MeTaL GuRu" Sufyani — vocals, additional guitars and keyboards (2004–2006, 2007–present)
James Kabir — Guitars, backup vocals (2001–present)
Tutul Rashid — Guitars (2003–present)
Anabeel Sen — Bass, backup vocals (2008–present)
Rafiul Habib - Drums (2003–present)
Former members
Torsha Khan - Vocals (2001–2008; inactive 2004-2008)
Golam - Guitars (2001–2003)
Shams Alim Biswas - Bass, Backup vocals (2001–2007)
Bobby Khan - Drums and Percussions (2001–2003)
-ARTCELL (formerly known as TANTRIL):
Similar to Metallica's Black album or Dream Theater.
Artcell is a Bangladeshi progressive rock band formed in October 1999. According to The Daily Star, a leading English national daily, Artcell is "one of the leading rock bands of the country".
Prior to forming the band, the four current members were school friends from Dhaka, and used to get together to play Metallica songs. Eventually Ershad came up with compositions of his own and the group began to play them at shows. The response they got was encouraging, which led to the formation of a band. What started off as an underground band is now one of the most recognized mainstream bands in the Bengali rock music scene.
The name "Artcell" was decided upon because it was softer sounding than a typical heavy metal name. In Cezanne and Shaju's words:
Even though we were a heavy metal band when we started, we didn't want a heavy metal name. We wanted a softer or an artistic touch to the heavy metal side. 'Cells where art is produced' - that was pretty much the basic idea behind the name 'Artcell.' Ershad came up with it and we all opted for it.
Artcell released its first studio album Onno Shomoy in 2002. It was both critically and commercially successful. The band lost its main songwriter Rupok to cerebral malaria while working on this album. Onno Shomoy was dedicated to him. One of the songs was titled "Rupok - Ekti Gaan" in his memory.
After the success of Onno Shomoy, Artcell spent four years carrying out experiments with their music without releasing an album although they did release singles scattered in various albums by other bands or compilation albums. Their second studio album Aniket Prantor came in April 2006. The album was one of the top sellers of the year and in May the band performed their second solo concert at Dhaka's Bashundhara Convention Centre.
Artcell celebrated its 10th anniversary on October 23, 2009 with a live concert entitled "10 Years Of Artcell Insanity" at the Winter Garden, Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. A DVD of the concert was due to be released in 2010. Artcell continue to regularly perform live shows and they have also made many tours out of Dhaka, including Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet, with some tours in India. In 2009 the band took part in "International Coastal Cleanup 2009", a day-long beach clean-up movement, at the Cox's Bazar sea beach.
In early 2010 the band travelled to Australia and performed at Belmore Sports Ground in Sydney on 3 January. The band is due to be one of the country's leading bands to perform at a concert against violence to women in the Banani Army Stadium, Dhaka, in December 2010.
Discography:
Onno Shomoy (2002)
Aniket Prantor (2006)
Compilation albums (contributed singles)
Odekha Shorgo (Charpotro)
Shopner Chorus (Projonmo)
Dukkho Bilash (Anusheelon)
Opshori (Anusheelon)
Ashirbad (Din Bodol with Black and Cryptic Fate)
Ostitter Dike Pododhonir Shommohon (Agontuk I)
Chile Kothar Sepai (Agontuk II)
Bangladesh...Smrity O Amra (Agontuk III)
Chera Akash (Lokayot)
Uthsober Uthsahe (Underground)
Ei Bidaye (Live Now)
Kandari Hushiar (Rock 303)
-BLACK
Black is a rock band from Dhaka, Bangladesh. They were one of the very first bands to come out from the underground scene in Dhaka and has over the years garnered a big enough fan-following to be considered a pioneer of alternative rock music in Bangladesh.
Black was formed in 1998 with the five members of Jon in vocals, Jahan in guitar, Tony in drums, Asif for additional guitar work and Tamzid Siddiq Spondon in bass. Soon enough Spondon and Asif parted ways with the band to follow each others interestsThe band has gained popularity over the years for their hook-laden rock compositions.
Childhood friends and schoolmates Jon Kabir, Mushfeque Jahan and Tony Vincent always shared a similar passion towards music. Their time was mostly spent at each others' houses listening to records from bands such as Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden. Pearl Jam's debut album Ten had a profound effect on the three and is said to have been the tipping point at which they decided to take up music professionally. After convincing each other about their musical skills the trio decided to form a band and soon enough they were jamming at their friends homes. Initially they decided to name their group Dope Smuglazz, as a wink to the irreverent parental fears of rock music and its supposed concurrent substance abuse, but soon enough shifted to the name Black by a suggestion from fellow classmate and future band member Asif Haque.
They released 2 albums.
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Thanx to:
People at Amadergaan Forum, Sangeeta Music Shop (Bricklane Road, Aldgate East, London)