Bangla was first formed by Arnob with his friends from Santiniketan. A fortuitous visit by Anusheh to Santiniketan brought the two together. Anusheh had already met Buno in Sylhet and had spent an evening discussing new experiments in music, finding much in common. Two thus became three. They performed together for the very first time at Lalon Shah’s Mazaar back in 1997. At their second show at the Kolkata Boi Mela in January 1999, they decided to officially call themselves ‘Bangla’. Then followed many concerts, both formal and informal, with Kartik, Shantanu and Tipu joining the three along the way. Buno, Arnob, Kartik, Shantanu, Tipu and Anusheh. Six young musicians on their way to stardom. For the quite some time these were the six who played for Bangla. But, there were more changes in the offing. Soon Nazrul Dhuli replaced Tipu, who was making more time for his other projects. Nazrul added the much needed touch of Bangladesh. Shantanu literally disappeared and Jibon became an integral part of Bangla. One of the biggest successes of Bangla has been the fact that they have been able to reach their music to an audience beyond Bangladesh. They have performed for foreign audiences across the globe and played along side great musicians like Jonas Helborg (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Pandit Tanmoy Bose, T.H. Vikku Vinayakram (Shakti), Silva Ganesh, Bob Geldof, Bono (U2), among others. Though not prolific performers, Bangla is constantly evolving. For these young musicians, music is a continuous journey of creativity. http://www.bangla-theband.com/index.html