Bolepur bluez

Bolepur Bluez
Background information
Origin	Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Genres	Rock, Baul, Fusion
Years active	21 August 2010 (2010-08-21)–present
Members	<b/r>Kunal Kundu, <b/r>Raju Das Baul, <b/r>Abhijit Acharya, Kushal "Tony" Kundu, Aditya Dutta
Past members	Basudeb Das Baul, Kartick Das Baul, Aaron Darnal, Ranjan

Bolepur Bluez (Bengali: বোলপুর ব্লুজ) is the world's first Baul Rock fusion band from Kolkata.They were the quarter-finalists of India’s biggest Talent hunt, India's Got Talent- Khoj 2(2010). The motto of the band is to re-create the ethnic traditional sound from the soil of West Bengal which is known as Baul, and take the amalgamation to a different level. ^[1]

History

After the successful participation on India's Got Talent season-2, the band released their debut album –The Soul Connection, internationally from EMI Records on December 2011 and it stayed on top of the charts for 3 months. The album has also been nominated at Mirchi Music Awards 2012 & Zee Bangla Gourav Samman Awards 2012.^[2]

Since last many years, the band has been performing live nationally and has been appreciated by many well known musicians and Bollywood personalities. They have also appeared in television shows and several radio talk shows.

Bolepur Bluez was also the first Bengali band to perform at Bacardi NH7 Weekender(Red Bull Tour Bus) in Kolkata,2013.^[3]

Then band also performed at Cadbury's Mishti Fair- 2016 at Salt lake, Kolkata^[4]

Band members

They are a group of FIVE musicians who are on a tryst to take this traditional Bengali music to an international platform. This is a new lineup which was officially announced by the founder member of the band, Kunal Kundu on 24 August 2015.

Kunal Kundu(Drummer/Founder member/Manager)

Kunal is the founder, drummer and the manager of the band. He is known for his classic rock/power drumming playing style. Kunal is also working as a music composer in Mumbai.

Raju Das Baul(Vocals & Khamak)

A Baul singer from Bolpur and the vocalist of the band who brings an essence of Baul music into the band with his voice and Khamak.

Abhijit Acharya(Vocals & Dotara/Percussion)

He is also a vocalist and the percussionist of the band. Being the eldest member, he adds multi flavours to the music of the band.

Kushal "Tony" Kundu(Lead Guitarist)

Tony is the lead guitarist and youngest of all the members of the band, also said to be one of the best guitarists Kolkata has ever found. He is the younger brother of Kunal Kundu.

Aditya Dutta(Bassist)

Aditya is the bassist of the band. He does wonders with his groovy style of bass guitar playing.

Music video

The band released their first music video of the song 'Hrid Majhaare' by Rooh Music. The song has been one of the most beautiful and enchanting baul/folk songs from Bengal, and has been covered by various artists and bands in different styles.

Bolepur Bluez being, World's first Baul-Rock outfit, has a previous version of the track Hrid Majhaare from their debut album 'The Soul Connection' released by EMI Records in 2011.

This time Bolepur Bluez experiments with their sound as they render a very soulful, organic and rootsy version of the ever green anthem Hrid Majhaare along with a romantic music video in which the band depicts the love story of Hindu Gods – ‘Krishna & Radha’ inside a hundred and fifty year old Rajbari (Palace) which is now in ruins.

The music video has been featured on Pepsi MTV Indies. ^[5]

Hindi original lyrics in this song has been written by Kunal Kundu, founder and drummer of the band.

The Soul Connection

The album was released internationally on December,2011 by EMI Records and was highly appreciated by people nationally as well as internationally.^[6]

Tracks

References