Sahana Bajpaie

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Sahana Bajpaie is a professional singer based out of the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata. Hailing from Santiniketan, the singer-songwriter has become a popular name in Tagore songs, particularly successful with the young listeners after her album – Notun Kore Pabo Bole – a collection of Rabindra Sangeet, came out in 2007 which created a stir in the music scenario of Bangladesh and West Bengal. The soundscape was composed and designed by the Bangladeshi music producer, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob. This album was widely accepted and loved for its new take on much-loved songs by Tagore. Sahana brought out her new Rabindra Sangeet album, Ja Bolo Tai Bolo (2015). The album proved as a chart topper. Three songs were arranged by Oliver Weeks (classical guitarist), Zoe Rahman (jazz pianist) and Idris Rahman (jazz clarinettist) and were recorded in London. One song has been arranged by the famous composer from Kolkata, Prabuddha Banerjee. The rest of the songs are arranged by the ingenious young singer-songwriter and Sahana’s long-time bandmate, Samantak Sinha (Rituparno Ghosh’s Gaaner Opaarey fame). Sahana, named after the legendary Rabindra Sangeet singer, Sahana Devi, was brought up in Santiniketan and started taking music lessons from her father, Prof Bimal Bajpaie, a Tagore scholar, at a very tender age. He was the motivation behind Sahana’s singing. She learnt her very first song from him at the age of three called Shokatore Oi Kadiche Shokole, a Rabindra sangeet. ‘Notun Kore Pabo Bole’ (2007), her debut album, is a tribute to him. Sahana trained in Indian classical music and Rabindra Sangeet under Madhumita Roy, Bijoy Sinha, Shyamoli Bandopadhyay, Chitra Roy, Mita Huq (Bangladesh), and Chandan Munshi. Some of her inspirations are Rajeshwari Dutta, Sahana Debi, Suchitra Mitra, KL Saigal, Krishna Chattopadhyay, Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Shantideb Ghosh, Pannalal Dasgupta, Ustad Rashid Khan, Debabrata Biswas, Kishori Amonkar, Ustad Amir Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Bob Dylan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen, James Taylor, Mark Knopfler, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, and Paul Robeson. She is a founder member of the Bangladeshi Sufi-Baul fusion group, Bangla, along with Bangladeshi musician, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, with whom she went to secondary school at Patha Bhavana, Santiniketan. She had been performing in India and Bangladesh since 1998. She had written several popular songs for Arnob and performed backing vocals for his solo records, ‘Chaina Bhabish’ (2006), ‘Hok Kolorob’ (2007), ‘Doob’ (2008), ‘Khub Doob’ (2015). She plays the harmonica (mouth organ) and tanpura, and practices every day. Sahana has lent her voice for films like Tasher Desh (Bolo Shokhee Bolo) by Q, Hawa Bodol (Mor Bhabonare) by Parambrata Chatterjee, Under Construction (Tomaye Gaan Shonabo) by Rubaiyat Hossain, and Family Album (Paralysed) by Mainak Bhaumik. She has worked with music directors in these films- Neel Adhikari, Indradeep Dasgupta, Arnob and Anupam Roy. In her new album, Sahana has explored various musical influences. She was exposed to Western and South Asian music ever since she was a baby, which led her to think of music as a fused sort of form where the East and West complement each other. As she has grown older, she has come to recognise the organic forms of music more than the fusion – she has never been a fan of the technology-heavy and programmed forms of music. She had always felt music should have a LIVE feel to it.