Black (Bangladeshi band)

Black (Bengali: ব্ল্যাক) is an Bangladeshi rock band, formed in 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. The band has gained popularity over the years for their hook-laden rock compositions. In 2004, as a result of the band's immense popularity around the time of the release of their second album, Utsober Por, Black was appointed the brand ambassador for Pepsi and Djuice, a youth based phone plan from Grameenphone and Telenor.

Childhood friends and schoolmates Jon, Jahan and Tony always shared a similar passion towards music. Their time was mostly spent at each other's houses listening to records from bands such as Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and 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 classmate and future band member Asif Haque.

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 other's interests.

In April 20, 2005, returning home after successfully completing a tour in Chittagong the bus in which the band was on, crashed near a ditch on the road. The crash caused the death of Imran Ahmed Choudhury Mobin, a prominent sound engineer in the Bangladesh music industry and a close friend of the band. Band members Jon, Jahan and Tahsan suffered minor bruises and cuts while Tony and Miraz had to be hospitalized. The members of the band announced a hiatus until further notice. Miraz had been diagnosed with a permanently damaged patella and had to leave the band indefinitely.

In mid 2006, Tahsan, got frustrated with the band's relative inactivity, decided to follow a career as a solo musician. After a mutual agreement with the rest of the band he departed and released three subsequent solo albums. The incident was not taken lightly by fans with many accusations wavered towards Tahsan as being "insensitive", "egotistic" and "exploitative" and rumors swirling about internal dissent within the members of Black. Though completely untrue, fans and detractors still debate over his departure from the band.

The subsequent years the three remaining members of Black maintained activity, albeit at a much smaller scale, playing minor shows and concerts within Dhaka and releasing singles through G-Series' many compilation records. With no bass player to perform live with the band, Jon himself tackled the position of playing bass while singing. This proved to be strenuous to his health thus halting any and all activity for a short while. In mid 2007, Black had found their fourth and final member in the form of Shahriar Sagar, a longtime friend of the band and mentor to Black's previous bass player Miraz.

After the release of their third album 'abar' Shahriar Sagar had to leave the band due to his work pressure and then came Titu Ahsan. He was formerly in a band with Tony named 'ashor'. With him Black released their forth album,self titled 'Black'. The album created enormous response among its solus fan base and is often considered by many fans as the heaviest studio album of all four produced by Black so far. After that Jon Kabir left the band for an unknown period of time and he was replaced by Mashuk Islam Khan. In the early stages of 2013, Black again changed their vocalist for unknown reason and Ashifur Rahman Chowdhury was appointed as the new vocalist and songwriter. Post departure of Jon, the fans didn't take this lightly at all and Ashifur had a lot to prove to the world. Stepping in someone's shoes whose shadows caste in the mind of the fans of Black for over 14 years is an extremely difficult job to do.

Later in the end of 2014, the Bassist Ahsan Titu took a break from music due to some personal reasons and then Black replaced him with Charlz Francis (the ex-bassist from the band Dark). Being a huge fan of Black, it was ecstatic for him and he takes it as an enormous opportunity to continue his passion for music with Black. At the beginning of 2015, Black and the vocal Ashifur Rahman Chowdhury came to a mutual understanding on recruiting a new vocal as Ashifur decided to part his ways for personal reasons. Later on Black found Rubayet Chowdhury as the perfect replacement, who has impressed the fans of Black and the music industry with his tremendous singing ability in the cover of cult number Amar Prithibi. This is seen as the conduction of a great challenge for him both as vocal and songwriter.

Currently, Black is working on its 5th studio album while performing in different gigs all around Bangladesh

History

Formation (1997–1998)

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 other's 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 friend,classmate and future band member Asif Haque. The band would then be introduced to Zubair Hossain Imon, an old acquaintance of guitar player Asif, whom the band considers to be "the stalwart member" and their "philosophical mentor". He is widely known for helping the band with their songwriting, often directly contributing words and ideas.

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 other's interests.

First single (2000–2001)

First single album CARPOTRO(ছাড়পত্র)

In the early part of 2000 Jon met Tahsan Rahman Khan, a close friend of former band mate Asif. After listening to him play the piano to which Jon commented on as being "tearfully melodic" invited him to play keyboards for the band. Black would first experience popularity with the release of their first single in the 2000 G-Series compilation album by Isha Khan Duray Charpotro. In November 2001 the band filled the void of a permanent bass player with Miraz who was still a student of Black's former bass player Shahriar Sagar.

Amar Prithibi (2001–2002)

Amar Prithbi (আমার পৃথিবী) Album Back Cover

In 2002 Black would release their debut record titled Amar Prithibi. Work began on the album in fall of 2001, between which they had also released several other singles in various compilation albums, and came into completion fall of 2002. Notable singles include "Amra", "Obhimaan", "Amar Prithibi" and "Kothay". The album also displayed Black's earlier heavy music influences in songs like "Kobor" and "Ondhokarer Pashe".

Utshober Por and Offbeat (2003–2004)

Utoshober Por (উৎসবের পর) album back cover

Shortly after the release of Amar Prithibi Black rushed into studio and began working on their sophomore followup under the title Utshober Por. This album was completed at a much shorter time since the band already had enough material from Amar Prithibi for a second album. The album was a departure from Black's usually heavy and alternative styling and instead focused on more mellow and folk oriented tunes and dealt with more self-exploratory writing. Notable singles from the album include "Utshober Por" (title track) and "Shloak", which received frequent playback in commercial radio stations.

Considering the sudden emergence of piracy in music, the album had sold well enough to have superseded Amar Prithibi. The album was received fairly well by critics despite having sold so well. Soon after releasing Utshober Por, the band took a stab at acting. The members of Black were cast as a ragtag group of street urchins in the teleplay Offbeat. The soundtrack to the song Shey Je Boshe Achhe had been a collaborative effort between Black and Arnob, of the folk group Bangla.

Death of Imran Ahmed Choudhury Mobin

Imran Ahmed Choudhury Mobin a prominent sound engineer in the Bangladesh music industry

On 20 April 2005, returning home after successfully completing a tour in Chittagong the bus in which the band was on, crashed near a ditch on the road. The crash caused the death of Imran Ahmed Choudhury Mobin, a prominent sound engineer in the Bangladesh music industry and a close friend of the band. Band members Jon, Jahan and Tahsan suffered minor bruises and cuts while Tony and Miraz had to be hospitalised. The members of the band announced a hiatus until further notice. Miraz had been diagnosed with a permanently damaged patella and had to leave the band indefinitely.

Abar (2007–2008)

Black 3rd Album Abar(আবার) front cover

After a five-year hiatus Black released their third studio album Abar at 10 July 2008. Under the sponsorship of Warid Telecom a press conference was held at Bashundhara City shopping mall, followed by a gala event for the album's launch. A documentary chronicling Black's career, including Imran Ahmed Choudhury Mobin's death, was shown and released publicly prior to Abar being launched. It was produced under Black's supervision and released through the G-Series label. The documentary features interviews by notable artists and figures amongst the Bangladesh music industry such as, Isha Khan Duray, Azam Khan, Sumon, Tipu and Iqbal Asif Jewel. This album was stated as one of the most commercially successful album in the history of Bangladeshi Band music.

Black (2009–2011)

Black has released their 4th studio album, Black (ব্ল্যাক) which is self-titled on 21 August 2011 under banner of G Series

Rafiqul Ahsan Titu performing with Black at the IUT in Gazipur

In late 2009 Black stated on their official Facebook page they had started working on their fourth studio album since June and that it is planned to be self-titled, a first for the band. In mid 2010 bass player Shahriar Sagar parted with the band paving the way for former Aashor member Rafiqul Ahsan Titu to take the helm. Upon his joining vocalist Jon Kabir says:

Black has released their 4th album, Black which is self-titled on 21 August 2011. Just after that Jon Kabir took a break from the band for an indefinite time of period. He stated that he along with his wife is going for higher studies in the end of 2012. As a part of that, he's getting prepared and in the meantime Black would perform with guest vocalists in concerts if they want to do so. Besides Jon also stated via Black's official Facebook fan page that he was working on a side project on music but not forming a band neither going solo. After a couple of months Jon opened a fan page on Facebook named "Indalo". It stated that he was working with Dio Haque (Nemesis) on drums, Zubair Hasan (Aashor) on guitar and vocals, Rafiqul Ahsan Titu (Black) on bass. The band will go for live shows after the month of Ramadan.

Fifth studio album (2015–present)

In an interview with BanglaNews24 Black revealed that they are working on their fifth studio album with new vocalist Rubayet Chowdhury added to the line-up. According to the band, 6 tracks have been completed so far and the album could face its release during Eid.^[1]

Discography

Studio albums

• 2002: Amar Prithibi
• 2003: Utshober Por
• 2008: Abar
• 2011: Black

Compilation albums (contributed singles)

• 2000: Charpotro
• 2001: Anushilon
• 2002: Projonmo
• 2003: Din Bodol, Agontuk
• 2004: Lokayot, Agontuk 2, Shopnochura, Offbeat (Teleplay Soundtrack)
• 2005: Agontuk 3
• 2006: Shopnochura 2, Underground
• 2007: Shopnochura 3, Live Now
• 2008: Rock 101
• 2009: Rock 202
• 2010: Rock 505
• 2011: Cholo Bangladesh, Rock 606
• 2012: Hatiar
• 2014: Shopnochura 4
• 2015: Rock 909

Black Band members

Music videos

• "Aundho" performed by Black (2002)
• "Utshober Por" performed by Black (2004)
• "Kothae" performed by Black (2004)
• "Abar" performed by Black (2008)
• "35" performed by Black (2008)
• "Ajo..." performed by Black (2011)

References

External links

• Official Youtube Channel
• Facebook Page
• Reverbnation Channel