Moni Da and Kabir Suman: Icons in Contemporary Popular Youth Music in Bengal

Music has been an integral part of any society – be it primitive or modern. It is a representative of everyday society – its values, beliefs as well as its crisis. And popular music does so more. The present research has focussed on an understanding of how Bengali young people have negotiated with the existing every day socio-cultural set up in order to create a new genre of music namely Bangla Band. In the process they had to undergo personal struggles and hardships which had shattered them only to give a renewed sense of courage and determination to pursue their dream of creating something novel and inspirational for the future generations to come. Here, in the paper, two case studies of popular musicians namely Gautam Chattopadhyay (popularly known as Moni da) and Suman Chattopadhyay, now Kabir Suman have been undertaken. The impact of these two musicians on Bangla Band music has been explored, understood and analysed.