Bangladeshi progressive rock band Meghdol’s ‘Esho Amar Shohore’ (Come to My City) opens with a voiceover and slow, nostalgic piano riff that builds off and pushes against each other. It might as well be the quintessential sound of Dhaka: exhausted, overcrowded, beautiful, lonely, and incredibly alive. For over two decades, this Bangladeshi band has made this city its canvas and reshaped Bengali music in the process.

To understand the enduring appeal of Meghdol — named after a poem by the French poet Charles Baudelaire — one must understand the world they came from. During the 1960s, in the pre-independence era of Bangladesh, there was a surge of rock music across the Bengal region — in both West Bengal in India and the erstwhile East Pakistan — as Bengali musicians drew influences from British and American rock music and fused them with elements of Bangla classical and ‘adhunik’ (modern) music. In the following decades, that fusion gave birth to a distinctly local sound. While bands like Mohiner Ghoraguli took Kolkata by storm, Azam Khan and his band Uccharon became the heroes of the 1970s Dhaka music scene. By the 1990s, Bangladesh had a thriving rock scene with bands like Love Runs Blind (LRB) (1991), Aurthohin (1999), and Nemesis (1999).

In the early 2000s, when Meghdol made its first foray into the scene, it was stepping into a lineage defined by the pioneering Bangla Bands’ sound of rebellion, identity, and post-liberation Bangladesh. Meghdol was formed in 2003 by Shibu Kumar Shil, Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, Rasheed Sharif Shoaib, and Masud Hasan Ujjal while they were studying Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. The band’s name was inspired by the Bangla translation of Charles Baudelaire’s poem ‘L’etranger’ by Bengali poet Buddhadeb Basu. The band released their first album, ‘Droher Montre Bhalobasha’, in 2004, followed by their second album, ‘Shohorbondi’, in 2009.

Meghdol’s sound and identity are shaped by introspective lyrics that capture the hyper-reality of urban life, the interpersonal dynamics of modern relationships, romantic disillusionment, and the intricacies of contemporary existence, all delivered through theatrical instrumentation. In a 2006 interview with The Daily Star, the band described their sound as “theatrical music.” Meghdol’s early work was characterized by minimal yet evocative mixing that preserved live-band energy while incorporating subtle effects like reverb and delay to enhance a sense of spatial depth.

Meghdol’s early albums — ‘Droher Montre Bhalobasha’ (2004) and ‘Shohorbondi’ (2009) — built a devoted cult following. ‘Shohorbondi’ was quintessential in the development of that following, with its focus on urban life, more mature vocals and instrumentation, and an unmistakable concept album-like energy that proved Meghdol was not limited to a single genre. Then, surprisingly, they disappeared for nine years. This hiatus only amplified their mythology. They broke the silence in 2018 with the single ‘Esho Amar Shohore’, the haunting first glimpse of their sprawling, third album, ‘Aluminium Er Dana’, which was released over several years, one song at a time.

In October 2021, the band was sued for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by performing their old track ‘Om’ at Dhaka University's ‘Concert against Violence’, a student-organised protest concert against communal attacks on the Hindu community. Although the charges were withdrawn just a week later, the irony of it was hard to miss: the band was hit with a legal challenge for playing a song at a peace concert, on the very campus where they had studied as undergraduates two decades prior.

‘Aluminium Er Dana’ gave Meghdol some of the band’s most celebrated tracks. In July 2022, they released the track ‘E Hawa’ as a tribute to the Bangladeshi psychodrama ‘Hawa’, directed by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, one of the band’s founding members and vocalists. Meghdol’s original lead guitarist Rasheed Sharif Shoaib returned from a two-year sabbatical to play for the track and tour in support of the film. It was a profound creative collaboration converging Sumon’s cinematic eye and Shibu Kumer Shil’s songwriting to produce a music video that straddled both art forms. ‘Hawa’ received widespread critical acclaim for its story, direction, visuals, and sound design, ran for over 100 days in Bangladeshi theatres, and was submitted as Bangladesh’s official entry to the 95th Academy Awards.

Meghdol’s influence has since travelled far beyond Bangladesh. On Coke Studio Bangla, the band collaborated with Jahura Baul on ‘Bonobibi’, a striking fusion of folk traditions and Meghdol’s urban indie sound. The track weaves Sundarbans mythology, the agricultural wisdom associated with the Bengali folk figure Khona, and expansive rock instrumentation into a track that is at once ancient and unmistakably contemporary. Music producer Shayan Chowdhury Arnob described it as a brilliant synthesis of folk and alternative music. Meghdol’s recurring appearances on Coke Studio Bangla — including the platform’s fourth season — are testament to their continued cultural relevance.

Listen to ‘Bonobibi’ on Coke Studio Bangla:

Follow @meghdol_official on Instagram.

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