The Bengal of the 1970s was an era of revolution, and this implied that it was a time of cultural revolution as well.
Photo:SNS
The Bengal of the 1970s was an era of revolution, and this implied that it was a time of cultural revolution as well. That generation was very much associated with ‘Mohineer Ghoraguli’, the music band which created pathbreaking songs. Its founder, Goutam Chattopadhyay, became an icon who influenced generations of musicians since.
The first ever Bengali Music Band of Kolkata, ‘Moheen’ actually did not cherish the success during that time but much later in the 1990. That is when the magic that the band created started becoming well established, and that magic still exists.
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Over the years, band music has become one of the most popular genres of music, along with other musical genres. It proves its power of mass communication and immediate connection across the generations. Even popular TV shows often use Bengali band songs for their participants, sometimes in a re-orchestrated fashion. Sometimes band performers perform with the participants as well. The iconic music reality show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ of Zee-Bangla is one of these kinds. The show has gathered enormous fame for many years and tries to introduce new flairs. And now, for the first time, to add more colour to this spring, the show is going to rock with famous bands of Bengal. Fossils, Lakkhichhara, Parash Pathar, Sahar and Sahajiya bands will all feature in this festive episode. Young contestants have performed with the same resonance and vivacity along with the band’s artists, synchronising with their highly energetic body language and stage presence. It shows that they are not only reality show participants but future rock stars who are blooming from this platform. It never looks like a competition stage, rather it feels like a rock show, and the stage becomes a concert stage.
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To add more spunk and pulse to the show, ‘Folk Guru’ Deb Chowdhury has performed with his band Sahajiya for the first time ever. Though for the last eight years, he has been working with Zee Bangla as a mentor and groomer. Deb and Sahajiya have performed a song of Hasan Raja ‘Loke Bole Re’ with Rana, one of the prominent contestants of the folk category. Along with Rupam & Fossils, Srijan Porel has performed ‘Khnoro Amar Fossil’, Sayantani Ghosh and Lakkhichhara jointly rendered the song ‘Ghure Fire Sei Eki Kotha’, Biswapriya Chakraborty and Sahar sang their very popular number ‘Tomay Chhnute Chaoar Muhurtora’, Ayush Gupta and Naba Nalanda School Band have performed Bela Bose and last but not the least, ParashPathar has collaborated with Ananya Sarkar with their iconic song ‘Sujon Amar Ghore Keno Ailo Na’. It is worthy to mention that after a long gap, Parash Pathar got a chance for its mainstream public appearance again. The audience were thrilled, electrified and overwhelmed with these songs at the DRR Studio. This endeavour from Zee Bangla and the show director Avijit Sen to bring forth the Bengali’s nostalgia and passion for Band Music to the fore is noteworthy. Somewhere and somehow, Moni Da (Goutam Chattopadhyay), the pioneer of the band music of Bengal, was invisibly present at the entire stage on that day.
(The show was filmed earlier.)
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