My Compelling Story

Lopamudra Mitra is a professional singer based out of the capital city of West Bengal, Kolkata. Growing up in the 70s in the heart of south Kolkata, in a joint family where music was part of the daily chores, Lopamudra received her initial training in music from her father, Pranab Mitra. With constant encouragement from her mother, Sumita Mitra, to pursue music the way she wanted to, and exposure to poetry and theatre under the tutelage of Sameer Chattopadhyay, a family friend, Lopamudra always broke the norms. Never deviating from her roots, Lopamudra received training in classical music from Rita Roy and later from Pandit Arun Badhuri. She learnt Nazrulgeeti and bhajan from Shri Sukumar Mitra, and Rabindrasangeet from Shri Subinoy Roy, Shri Subhas Chowdhury, and Shri Aurobindo Biswas. Her delivery and style, however, always transcended the typicality associated with these forms of music and was lucky enough to always have gurus who encouraged her to cultivate this uniqueness. As Bangla music turned around a new bend with the coming of Kabir Suman in the 90s, a bunch of fresh voices walked down his trail. They created lyrics, melodies, and sound designs that echoed the ethos of the new generation. They looked for lyrics speaking of the turns and twists of a globalised, consumerist life through a format of modern poetry. They carved out sound arrangements and tunes immersed in the essence of world music while remaining quintessentially Bengali. Lopamudra was a forbearer of this trend, sweeping music lovers off their feet with her version of 'Benimadhab', a song based on Joy Goswami's poem, 'Malatibala Balika Bidyalay', put to tune by her Sameer Chattopadhyay, her mentor. More such songs that were poems of leading poets of Bengal like Sunil Ganguly, Nirendranath Chakraborty, Jibananda Das and Shakti Chattopadhyay followed. As her popularity increased, Lopamudra started singing basic numbers written and composed by contemporary composers and lyricists which became instant hits. 'Chelebelar Brishti', one of Lopamudra's earliest hits, was the first song to be set to attune for Lopamudra by Joy Sarkar. The song paved the way for a musical partnership in more ways than one. Joy and Lopamudra tied the knot in 2001. Not having to look back since 1996, accolades galore and albums have come in the way. Saregama HMV, the world renowned recording company, has released 16 albums of Lopamudra's 'Rabindrasangeet' and 'Adhunik' numbers.