The land of Bengal has given birth to many great rock bands and artists since the 60’s. Many of them has just vanished from the face of time, while only few remained still. However, there are some who are still carrying on the torch no matter what the scenario is . One such name is Winning-the band that literally started a great revolution in the history of Bangladesh’s music.  And now, with kinds words by Sujon Mahbub we are going to take to an epic journey to their history.

1980-1982

It had started long before it actually started when the kingdom of rock music in Bangladesh belonged to the then rock icon the late Azam Khan. As his back-up musicians, we felt the boat of fame rocking too much, too hard to sustain. The bright and shining days of Azam Khan suddenly shrouded with uncertainty when we opted to separate ourselves in the pursuit of doing something on our own.

1982: Pre-dawn of Winning. Left to Right – Shelley, Babu, Late Azam Khan, Hyder Hussain

It was in the summer of 1982 when we composed a set of songs and decided to venture our determination in a recording studio. Our day brightened when two great musicians, Fuad Naser Babu and Pearo Khan of Feedback walked into the recording studio called ‘Jhankar’ at Farmgate and recorded our 1^st set of 5 self-composed songs with us. The next 6 months, would have been the most crucial time for us as we wandered and questioned ourselves if it was the right decision to leave our rock guru. Well, it turned out to be a decision worth well made

1983-1989

January 1^st, 1983 was certainly a memorable day for us not just because it was the 1st day of the year but also because we gathered ourselves on that day to commit to do something that we always felt we were best at i.e. play music. We did not even know that we had just formed our Band. Our first line up was: Mitul, Fahim, Shelley, Haider Hossain, Babu & Ranjan. The only instruments we had on that special day were nothing more than a Harmonium and an Acoustic guitar. However, the most precious asset that we cherished was the set of songs that we had just completed recording. Later, the same year in August we made our first appearance in BTV at a program called ‘Nirjhaar’, a show catered to nurture young talents. We performed ‘Mon Ki Je Chay’ and ‘Neel Chokh’ among other young performers.

1987: Left to Right – Chandan, Biplob, Shelley, Ranjan, Babu.

Two years later in August, 1985 it was our first ever public exposure to perform at a solo concert organized by Winning Fan Club at British Council. Our debut performance at the concert was highly applauded by our young fans & friends. It raised our bar of hopes and aspirations followed by yet another successful event. This time, we participated in a joint concert with Renaissance, Feelings and Chaos at Green Harold School in 1986. As we paced into 1988 we found our band on a much

1988 Left to Right – Shelley, Kaiser, Chandan, Reza, Ranjan.

stronger foothold. We ended up with another big solo concert at Engineer’s Institute. At this time we started composing more of our own songs. While engaged in doing so, we seized another opportunity to step up and perform in the 1^st ever Flood Aid Concert in October 1988 at Sheraton Hotel with 8 other bands, including Miles, Souls, Feedback etc.

Left to Right – Shelley, Chandan, Tipu, Biplob, Ranjan (circa 1989)