Sahana Bajpaie

Sahana Bajpaie is an Bengali-Indian singer-songwriter from Santiniketan and one of the most prominent contemporary Rabindra Sangeet vocalists in West Bengal, India and Bangladesh.[1] By the age of 13, she started singing. In 2007, she released her debut album Notun Kore Pabo Bole, which was a collection of Rabindra Sangeet.[2] In 2014, she released her second solo album Shikawr, with several musicians from West Bengal. Sahana's second Rabindra Sangeet album Ja Bolo Tai Bolo was released in 2015[3] and the latest solo album, Mon Bandhibi Kemone in 2016.[4]

Sahana Bajpaie
BornSantiniketan, West Bengal, India
OriginSantiniketan
GenresRabindra Sangeet, fusion, folk
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
InstrumentsVocal, mouth organ, Tanpura, piano, keyboards
Years active2007–present
LabelsBengal Music Company, Hindustan Records Inreco
Associated actsShayan Chowdhury Arnob, Samantak Sinha, Anupam Roy
Websitesahanabajpaie.com

In 2012, she made her first playback in the Indian Bengali fantasy film Tasher Desh. Alongside Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, she has written, composed and produced several popular Bengali songs.[5]

Early life and education

Bajpaie was born at Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. She spent her childhood at Santiniketan and lived there till 2002. Both of her parents were professors of political science at the University of North Bengal. She took her first lessons in music from her father, Bimol Bajpaie and learned to sing at the age of six. Later she started taking learning from eminent musicians of Santiniketan like Bijoy Sinha, Chitra Roy, Shyamali Banerjee, Chandan Manda and Mita Haque and received training in Indian classical music and Rabindra Sangeet.[1] In 2005, Bajpaie joined BRAC University in Dhaka as a lecturer in English. In May 2008, she left for London, to pursue her postgraduate studies at the SOAS, University of London.

Music career

In 2007, Bajpaie released her debut album Notun Kore Pabo Bole, which was a collection of Rabindra Sangeet.[2] It was released in March 6, 2007 from Bengal Music Company, Dhaka. The album created quite a stir in the music scenario of Bangladesh and West Bengal, owing to its avant-garde representation and arrangement of Tagore-songs.

She released her second Rabindra Sangeet album Ja Bolo Tai Bolo in September, 2015 from India and Bangladesh, which contained a collection of devotional and folk songs of Tagore.[3]

Her third solo album Mon Bandhibi Kemone was released in 2016, which was the first of its kind, collection of hand-picked folk-songs of Bengal, which Bajpaie and her associates had painstakingly collected and arranged them in a contemporary format.[4] Music arrangement of this album was done by Samantak Sinha and Satyaki Banerjee.[6] In 2016, she made a playback for the Bengali film Under Construction.[7]

Playback

In 2013, Bajpaie made her debut playback in Bengali comedy film Hawa Bodol which was directed by Parambrata Chattopadhyay. In 2016, she sang for Family Album by Mainak Bhaumik, which was set to tune by Anupam Roy. In 2018, she sang for two films Ek Je Chilo Raja, a film by Srijit Mukherjee & Rainbow Jelly, by Soukarya Ghoshal. More recently, in the Shiboprasad & Nandita directed, Kontho, she sang the song, Shawbai Chup. [7]

Personal life

In 2000, Bajpaie got married to her childhood friend Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, a Bengali musician, singer-songwriter and composer. They got divorced in 2008.[5] Later, Bajpaie married Richard Herrett and has a daughter with him.[8] She now resides in London, where she serves as a senior teaching fellow in Bengali in the Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia at SOAS South Asia Institute.[9] She is however currently, on leave, pursuing her PhD in Ethnomusicology at King's College London.

Discography

Studio albums

Playback
YearTitleFilmNoteRef.
2012Bolo Shokhi BoloTasher Desh
2013Mor BhabonareHawa BodolRabindra Sangeet, with Saptarshi Mukherjee
2014Tomay Gaan ShunaboUnder ConstructionRabindra Sangeet[2]
2014Poush ToderUnder ConstructionRabindra Sangeet[2]
2015ParalysedFamily Album
2018MaharajoEk Je Chhilo RajaRabindra Sangeet

References
  1. "An Interview with Sahana Bajpaie". Café Dissensus. October 17, 2015. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  2. "Shahana Bajpaie to make comeback after 7 years". The Independent. Dhaka. June 22, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  3. "Sahana Bajpaie launches her second Rabindrasangeet album in Kolkata". India Blooms. 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  4. "Sahana Bajpaie returns with folk album". The Daily Star. August 30, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  5. "Sahana lends voice to Arnob's music". Dhaka Tribune. February 3, 2014. Archived from the original on December 20, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  6. Waheed, Karim (November 6, 2016). "Rediscovering Sahana Bajpaie". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on December 23, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  7. "Sahana Bajpaie and Arnob sing for film 'Under Construction'". Dhaka On Air. January 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  8. "১০ বছর পর ঢাকায় সাহানা" [Sahana in Dhaka after 10 years]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  9. "South Asia Department". SOAS, University of London. Archived from the original on May 6, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
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