Rupam Sarmah | |
---|---|
Genres | World, New Age, Classical, folk |
Occupation(s) | Computer Scientist, Composer, Filmmaker, Record Producer, Engineer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, tabla, percussions, strings, keyboard, piano |
Years active | 1992–present |
Labels | RJ Productions International |
Website | www |
Rupam Sarmah is a musician, filmmaker, entrepreneur, author, sound engineer, and computer scientist. Rupam is a Guinness World Records holder and had a #1 release on the Billboard World Music chart (Together in Peace, 2017). He won Gold Telly Awards (One Little Finger, 2019). As a filmmaker, Sarmah has directed documentaries, short films, and feature films. Sarmah directed the English-language feature film One Little Finger with a theme of Ability in Disability. [1]
Sarmah has worked with some of the award-winning artists and actors -- Siedah Garrett, Dan Aykroyd, Moloya Goswami, Tamela D'Amico, Abhinaya, Jaya Seal, Kushol Chakravarty, Asim Bose, Pabitra Rabha, Rituparna Sengupta, Debashree Roy, Paoli Dam, and others.
Rupam has produced, engineered, recorded songs and music with award-winning artists such as Quincy Jones, Siedah Garrett, Kathy Sledge, Julian Lennon, Janis Ian, Kechi Okwuchi, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Laura Sullivan, George Kahumoku, Jr., Cindy Paulos, Wouter Kellerman, Brian Vibberts, Ricky Kej, Sumitra Guha, Kevin Mackie, Sophia Agranovich, Alan Roy Scott, Udit Narayan, Babul Supriyo, Sadhna Sargam, Kumar Sanu, Rupankar, Subhamita, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta, Usha Uthup, Anweshaa, Iman Chakraborty, and many others.
Sarmah and Sumitra Guha have represented India for Festival of India concerts in France (2018) organized by the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, and the Embassy of India in Paris on the occasion of India’s 70th Independence. The theme of the project was A Musical Journey towards Rising India.
As a Computer Engineer, Executive, and media professional, Rupam has worked for technology startups and other companies [2] such as Apple. Rupam is a Voting member of Grammy® as a Musician, Producer, and Engineer (P&E) [3] since 2005.
Sarmah has been involved with AI, Autism, and Music research and started a research center [4] (RMAN [5] ) for ongoing research.
Sarmah founded the One Little Finger Global Foundation (501c3) [6] to support underprivileged children and persons with disabilities, media production house RJ Productions International - maZumba for collaborative content creation. He has worked on a number of projects with organizations, including UNESCO Center for Peace, PRERONA, Manovikas - Welfare and Rehabilitation Center for the Children with Special Needs, Bhupen Hazarika Foundation. [7] [8]
Sarmah has received a number of awards and recognitions for his music and film. [9] [10] One Little Finger, written and directed by Sarmah, received several awards. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] His research-based world music project, OMKARA - The Sound of Divine Love and Gospel with Borgeet,Talk to God, received nominations in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2014. [16]
Sarmah made a Guinness World Record on 24 February 2013 for his project 'A Musical Journey for World Peace', which united more than 500 participants from across the globe playing 315 kinds of musical instruments for world peace. [17] [18] [19]
OMKARA was listed in the top 10 Radio Airplay chart. [20]
Action Moves People United, co-produced and engineered by Sarmah, made the top 10 on the US Billboard Compilation Album chart. [21] [22]
The album A Musical Journey: Together in Peace made the top 10 on the Billboard World Albums chart. Sarmah created history by becoming the first Assamese and also probably the first artist of Northeast origin to get a #1 album on the Billboard World Albums chart. [23]
Sarmah was born in Jorhat, Assam. He learned Indian instruments and classical vocals during his time at Golaghat and Jorhat. He also continued to explore other fields, such as film, sound engineering, and music. Sarmah migrated to the United States after completing his BS in Engineering in India. He then earned his doctorate from George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science with a dissertation in Artificial Intelligence. Rupam completed his Master’s in Management, Master’s in Computer Science, and Doctorate from US universities. [2] In the US, he took lessons from Ali Akbar Khan, Hindustani classical maestro.
The khol is a terracotta two-sided drum used in northern and eastern India for accompaniment with devotional music (bhakti). It is also known as a mridanga, not to be confused with mridangam. It originates from the Indian states of Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and Manipur. The drum is played with palms and fingers of both hands.
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, known professionally as V. M. Bhatt, is an Indian Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena.
Luís Remo de Maria Bernardo Fernandes is an Indian-born Portuguese singer and musician. Known as a pioneer of Indian pop music, he performs pop/rock/Indian fusion and is also a film playback singer. His musical work is a fusion of many different cultures and styles that he has been exposed to as a child in Goa and in his later travels around the world. Such influences include Goan and Portuguese music, Sega music, African music, Latin music, the music of erstwhile European communist states, those of the dance halls from Jamaica and Soca.
Khagen Mahanta was a singer and composer of folk and traditional music of Assam. Khagen Mahanta was a notable person in Assamese folk music and known as the "King of Bihu". His Bihu songs, Borgeet and other folk songs remain popular in Assam. The artist, along with his wife Archana Mahanta and son Angaraag Mahanta who is known as Papon, represent one of the most influential families in Assamese music. He died on 12 June 2014.
Rupam Islam is an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, music composer, and writer. He is the lead vocalist of the popular Bengali rock band Fossils. In addition to his work in rock music, Rupam is also a renowned playback singer, having contributed to numerous Bengali films.
Fossils (ফসিল্স) is an Indian hard rock band from Bengal formed in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, in 1998. The group is considered one of the pioneering rock acts in Kolkata's Bengali music scene. The band currently comprises Rupam Islam, Deep Ghosh, Allan Temjen Ao, Tanmoy Das (drums), Prasenjit 'Pom' Chakraborty.
The Eastern Fare Music Foundation is a music school, as well as a production and publishing house in Guwahati, Assam, India. The institute provides training for instrumental music in Western Classical music, Carnatic music and contemporary style. It was first founded in Bangalore in 2007. In 2016, the institute started its branches in Guwahati and Shillong. The branches in North East India provide classes in dance and Indian classical music.
Joi Barua is an Indian singer and music composer. Born in Digboi, Assam, he started his career by singing advertising jingles and later did playback singing for Hindi, Assamese and Telugu films. He is also the lead vocalist of the band Joi. Barua has a mixed musical style incorporating elements of rock, soul, jazz, folk and world music.
Angaraag Mahanta, known by his stagename Papon, is an Indian playback singer and composer from Assam. Papon has also sung in many languages apart from Assamese like Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi. He is the lead vocalist and founder of the folk-fusion band Papon and The East India Company. He is the son of the noted Assamese singer Khagen Mahanta and Archana Mahanta.
Jim Ankan Deka is an Indian musician, documentary film maker, photographer and director of Bangalore based organisation and music school Eastern Fare Music Foundation. He is the first person from Assam to open a music institute and a production house in Bangalore, India. He won multiple awards for his song Aawaz - speak up against sexual violence based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape incident.
Kathy Sanborn is an American jazz vocalist and composer based in California. She won a 2015 American Songwriting Award for her song, "Fantasy."
Simple Gogoi is a director from Assam, India. Her first movie is Tumi Jodi Kua and later she worked on mega serials, Ad Films and more than hundred music videos.
Laura Sullivan is an American composer, arranger, pianist, producer, author, and a New-age, World, Spoken Word, Native American, and Pop music artist. She has worked with leading musicians of the industry and Grammy award winners including Eric Sullivan, Nancy Rumbel, Jeff Oster, Eugene Friesen, and Will Ackerman. She is best known for her album, Love's River, which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Love’s River was recognized as one of the best commercial productions by Will Ackerman after 2009. Sullivan's album Pieces of Forever was nominated for Best New Age Album in the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Jorhat is a major city in Upper Assam and amongst the fastest growing urban centres in the state of Assam in India.
Manas Robin is an Indian music director, singer, musician, lyricist, filmmaker, Bihu artist, and music producer from Assam.
Vidushi Sumitra Guha is an Indian classical vocalist, known for her expertise in the Carnatic and Hindustani schools of classical music. The Government of India honored her in 2010, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri and in 2020 with a Sangeet Natak Akademi award.
Dhruv Ghanekar is a Music composer, song writer, producer and guitar player based in Mumbai, India. Ghanekar has performed and/or recorded with Richard Bona, Raul Midon, Trilok Gurtu, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Bernard Purdee, A.R Rahman, Bob Belden, Scott Kinsey, Etienne M'Bappe, Dominic Dipiazza, Louis Banks, Ranjit Barot. and many contemporary musicians from across the globe. His second 2nd album, Voyage, fuses sounds from Africa and India.
Carl Maurice Borden II is an American composer, record producer, recording artist, and engineer of new-age music. A graduate of Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, he is best known for his work with former Atlantic Records recording artist Men At Large. His music has been featured on The Fox television series Scream Queens and the VH1 TV series Single Ladies.
Sophia Agranovich is a Ukrainian-born American classical concert pianist, recording artist, music educator and artistic director. She holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the Juilliard School, where she taught piano as a teaching fellow. She continued her doctoral studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her live performances and discography have won top international awards and critical acclaim. Her albums are charting in top 10 across all musical genres on One World Music Radio and on World Top Radio Airplay Charts. A Steinway Artist, she is concertizing at major venues worldwide, and has been described by Fanfare Magazine as "a bold, daring pianist in the tradition of the Golden Age Romantics" and praised by the American Record Guide for her "magnificent shading and superior musicianship."
Jagga Jasoos is the soundtrack album to the 2017 Hindi-language film of the same name directed by Anurag Basu, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. The film is produced by Pictureshuru Entertainment and Disney Pictures India. The film's soundtrack and background score is composed by Pritam in his fourth collaboration with Basu, whereas the lyrics for the songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Neelesh Misra. The film features dialogues in a sing-song rhymes format written by Samrat Chakraborty, Devesh Kapoor and Debatma Mandal along with Bhattacharya and Basu themselves.