Bangla Band music has existed as an independent ‘genre’ for only about thity years now.
Here is a list of a few popular Bands working in Kolkata at this moment: (If you could add to this list I would appreciate that) :
CACTUS – the First to call themselves a Rock Band. Would be touring six cities in the US in October this year. Most famous song : Halud Paakhi
Fossils – Rock Band, Rupam is the main lyricist, singer. Always-aired-song on FM : Ei Akla Ghar Amar Desh
Chandrabindoo – Their kind of music is difficult to label. They basically do ‘what they like’. The first group to translate Simon & Gurfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence” in Bangla.
Bhoomi – One of the most popular bands of Kolkata, they changed the way people think and talk in Bangla. Their song Barandaey Roddur is almost synonymous with bangla contemporary music. I mean, when people talk about ‘aajkalkar gaan’, they automatically think of this song.
Krosswindz – The first to be featured in Calcutta University Journal as a Band in its own right. The most famous song I would like to mention here isn’t composed by them but made popular by them. It was later adopted by James for the movie Gangster , Original composition by Mohiner Ghonraguli : Prithibita Naki Chhoto Hotey Hotey…
Lakkhichara – The younger generation, with Gaurav Chatterjee, the son of ”Mohiner Ghonra’ Gautam Chatterjee, as the frontman and the drummer of the group. They started singing compositions of Mohiner Ghonraguli while they were still children. The most popular song I last heard was : Jibon Chaichhey Aro Beshi Kichhu.
Mohiner Ghonraguli (Mohin’s Horses) : The Father of Bangla Bands, both this side and that side of Bengal. They all learned from them. Everybody picked up from where they left off. The group never achieved either fame or recognition except for a few stray reviews in Newspapers by friendly journos or personal admirers in their musical lifetime but left a legacy behind for evryone to look upto them as pioneers in the field.
Telephone is a song that a lot of Bangla Bands sing (by Crosswindz), Poth Gachhey Benkey (Crosswindz), Bhalo Lagey ( adaptation by Paroshpathhor)
Abhilasha, Paroshpathhor and numerous other Bands have left a body of hummable and interesting compositions and disappeared…
I only mentioned Bangla Bands from this side of the Ganges. There is a sizeable and very strong representation on the other side – in Bangladesh. They are richer, more widely known, technically advanced perhaps and have a regular underground Band Music movement in their part of the country.
I mean to find out more and would keep posting it here for those who care and love these Bands. If you share what you know, here, for all of us Probashis, who live far away from Kolkata and often do not have any access to this music at all, thanks to the utter indifference of record companies and to an extent due to people’s ignorance too, it would be great.:-)
For am sure if they were heard, the Bangla Bands would be loved and appreciated anywhere 🙂
After all they say music has no barriers (unless you create them or let it develope through ignorance, right?) 
Runsingtwinkle 