Soulmate (genre: blues rock): formed in 2003, based in shillong. they mostly sing in english. i would recommend love you, voodoo woman, shillong (sier lapalang)
Indian Ocean (genre: multi. mostly jazz and rock and folk fusion): formed in 1990, based in delhi. they sing in multiple languages. i would recommend bagh aayore, shoonya, jaadu maaya
Moheener Ghoraguli (genre: multi; rock (folk and blues), jazz, baul, american folk): formed in 1975, based in kolkata. they sang in bengali. i would recommend ei shomoy amar shomoy, amar priyo caffe, sei phuler daal
chandrabindoo (genre: rock, multi): formed in 1998, based in kolkata. they sing in bengali. famous music composer pritam was a part of chandrabindoo! recommended: hridoy, geet gobindo, ami amar mone
Pakistan:
Junoon (genre: sufi rock): formed in 1990, based in lahore and nyc. multilingual. i would recommend: sayonee, yaar bina, azadi
Entity Paradigm (genre: rock): formed in 2000 (but they kept breaking up and rebanding every few years. also entity and paradigm used to be separate bands till they joined. yes this is the one with fawad khan. this is very mainstream. (<- girl saying this as if half the others are Not) anyway), based in lahore. they mostly sing in urdu afaik. recommended: hamesha, waqt, fitrat
Mekaal Hasan Band (genre: sufi rock, alternative rock): formed in 2001, based in lahore. they are multilingual, but mostly urdu afaik. recommended: raba, ranjha, ghunghat
noori: formed in 1996, based in lahore. multilingual. recommended: yariyaan, meray log, dil ki qasam
299: Aaarti Mukherjee // ভোরের তারা আধুনিক বাংলা গান [Morning Star]
ভোরের তারা আধুনিক বাংলা গান [Morning Star]
Aarti Mukherjee
1988, His Master's Voice
Far be it from me to claim any expertise on Bengali music, but I love this little late ���80s compilation of songs by Aarti Mukherjee (listed on the cover as “Arati” Mukherjee) whose title translates to Morning Star. It’s from a fairly obscure series from the Indian bureau of His Master’s Voice for the domestic market called Bengali Modern Songs—a few volumes are listed on Discogs, but I had to add this one myself. Mukherjee is best known as a playback singer whose prime stretched from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, providing the vocals for a generation of leading ladies to lip-synch to in the Bengali-language film industry (Tollywood). As with her peers in the better-known Hindi-language Bollywood system, Mukherjee was insanely prolific, having recorded something like 15,000 songs over the course of her career. Morning Star has only uh eight of those, but they’re all wonderful. Eloquently orchestrated (mostly synth, to my ear), with percussion that sways and wobbles like dub, the approach to melody seems clearly derived from a classical, almost operatic tradition, yet these are also pop songs. Opener “কোথাও একটা পাখী ডেকে চলছে” (“Somewhere a Bird is Calling”) almost sounds like samba, kissed with shakers, synth strings, and quirky whistles, a brief sitar bridge that gives way to a flourish of acoustic guitar. “তুমি কৃষ্ণচূড়া ফোটার দিনে” (“You Are the Day of the Black Peak”) is even better, with one of those smiling through tears melodies the subcontinent seems to specialize in, a perfect showcase for Mukherjee’s precise diction and songbird’s warble. “ভ্রমরে গুঞ্জরে সুরে বিভোর” (“There is a Buzzing Sound,” possibly) has a courtlier disposition, with a snaky rhythm that reminds me of Ottoman classical music, Mukherjee crooning over a sweet sitar riff that fills my head with every sandswept Orientalist trope an Occidental pud can imagine. I really can’t say where Mukherjee stands in the firmament of Indian music, or even where these particular songs stand amid her own unfathomably vast catalogue. But for whatever a recommendation is worth coming from someone only just beginning to explore the genre, Morning Star is superb.