Bhoomi (ভূমি)(literally means ''earth'')Songs from the Bengali Earth: Bhoomi’s Top 10
''gibsonguitar.in''. Retrieved 20 March 2013 is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

music group based in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, West Bengal, India. Formed in 1999, it soon become hugely popular and performed in various local, national and international platforms. In July 2006 they performed at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

headquarters in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Bhoomi has also performed at the

Montreal Jazz Festival The Festival international de Jazz de Montréal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 ar ...

in 2008.

Style

This is the only band which defines its music as 'urban folk'. The band uses a fusion of modern, urban lyrics with rural Bengali folk tunes like ''

baul The Baul () are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism from different parts of Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute bot ...

'', which was a very early style of music by wandering minstrels in rural Bengal or Bhatiyali (traditionally sung by the boatmen on the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

and also the

Padma The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the bank ...

in Bangladesh). They have also re-done old folk songs which were unknown to the modern day urban Bengali and revived such gems with an infusion of fresh music and a lively spirit and pep to the old songs. The band's efforts have been to expand their brand of urban music beyond the college campus and youth circuit to the older listeners. One of their main inspirations behind their music is everyday city life, which they experience and which is experienced by so many people everywhere. One of Bhoomi's first released songs 'Barandaye Roddur' went on to become a mainstream hit and is still immensely popular today. Their popularity is rooted in a unique sound that combines a variety of traditional folk tunes with an array of western rhythms with western instrumentation and mixed harmoniously with Bengal's folk instruments like the Khamak,

Ektara The ''ektara'' (, , , , , ; literally 'one-string', also called ''actara'', ''iktar'', ''ektar'', , ''yaktaro'', ''gopichand'', ''gopichant'', ''golki'' , ''gopijiantra'', ''tun tuna'') is a one-stringed musical instrument used in the traditio ...

, Khonjoni, etc.

Members

Their current line-up includes 5 band members - * Soumitra Ray – Songwriter, Composer, Lead vocals,

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

Bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

and

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Hemanto Goswami – Acoustic, Electric Guitar and backing vocalist * Abhijit Ghosh – Bass Guitar and backing vocals * Robin Lai – Keyboards, Violin,

Harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

and also the sound engineer of the band * Arjyesh Ray – drums

Former Member

* Surojit Chatterjee – Songwriter, Composer, Lead vocals,

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

* Late Sanjoy Mukherjee – Percussion * Chandrani Banerjee – Vocals * Vikramjit Banerjee – Acoustic and Electric Guitars * Jhuppa Bose – Keyboards * Richard Gasper – Keyboards

Albums

* Jatra Shuru (2000) –

Times Music Times Music is an Indian music record label copyright music publishing company, owned by The Times Group, Headquartered in Mumbai, India. Times Music started operations in 1998 and has a catalogue of more than 60,000 tracks in all languages an ...

* Udaan (2001) –

* Isspecial (2002) –

* Paal Chhuteche (2003) –

Saregama Saregama India Ltd is an Indian music record label and content company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is the oldest music label in India, established in 1901 as the Indian branch of the British Gramophone Company. It later became ...

* Lokgeeti Local (2004) –

* Dekhtey Dekhtey (2004) –

* Bojhaai Kora Gaaner Gaari (2005) –

* Gaan Bahan (2007) –

* Lokegeetir Deshe (2008) –

* Aamra Nuton Joubaneri Doot (Rabindrasangeet) (2009) –

* Gaan Doriyay (2010) –

Universal Music India Universal Music India Pvt. Ltd. (UMI) was launched in 1999; it is a part of the Universal Music Group, an American-based, Dutch-listed multinational music corporation. Universal Music India is registered with the Indian Music Industry, a tru ...

* Doshe Pa (2010) –

* Desh Jurrey (2011) –

* Ekir Mikir (2016) –

* Prem Pagol (2018) – Hindusthan Records (INRECO)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhoomi (land) Bengali music Indian musical groups Bengali musicians Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in West Bengal