Sunday, September 19, 2010

Kalpana Patowary | Bhojpuri Queen | Musician | Singer | Composer | Recording Artist | Record Producer.

                                               

The “Bhojpuri Queen” as she is fondly called by friends, followers and fans alike, had a start in the golden years of the late 2001s in the bustling city of Mumbai, India. Thus began a comprehensive journey that generated mass hysteria and established this gentle vocalist as one of the most powerful new voices in India introduced to music early in her childhood.

Kalpana Patowary is the worthy torchbearer of a rich legacy of vocals, being the daughter of Assam’s folk singer Bipin Chandra Nath and disciple of the legendary Ustad Gulam Mustafa Khan. She is very much influenced by Dr Bhupen Hazarika, the 'Bard of Brahmaputra', an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. 

Her first language is Assamese but she sings in Bhojpuri, Hindi, Bengali, English & 28 other languages with around 12000 songs to her credit.

Initially trained in Assamese folk and Indian Classical music, Kalpana Patowary, a devoted vocalist, has been hailed as a prodigy in the world of Bhojpuri music. She is the darling of the North Indian belt and has carved herself a special niche in the Bhojpuri music world credited with reviving and promoting Bhojpuri music industry all over the world and bringing back traditional forms of music to the International stage. Indian folk music particularly of Northern India has been showcased and revived by her in a big way.  “She gave Bhojpuri Music a new twist”. Critic wrote that she changed the art of Bhojpuri vocals. 

Very few people know that Kalpana Patowary is as versatile that she justify or render both in raw folk forms as well as western singing. Kalpana Patowary’s music genre is about primitive -acoustic folk with some trace of Indian classical music, ambient electronic and new age jazz - fusion. 

She is a household name. Many acknowledge her as having powerfully contributed to a resurgence of Bhikhari Thakur traditions in Bhojpuri. Kalpana Patowary combines a powerful singing style with a magnetic ability to communicate with her audiences.

She has been recognized with Bhikhari Thakur Samman in Calcutta, Bhikhari Thakur Samman in Jamshedpur, Swar Samragee , Bhojpuri Swar Mallika, Bhojpuri Sewa Samman, Bhojpuri Sangam Samman, Panchamrit Samman, Atkrista Gayak Samman, The Bhojpuri Queen to name a few. She was entitled with “Bhojpuri Samragee” and “Swar Kokila” for popularity contribution to folk music of Bihar by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar government.

She had many opportunities to sing for Hindi films and has already play blacked in more than 100 Hindi feature film. A few of them are R..Rajkumar(Gandi BaatCLICK), Akrosh(Tere Ishq Se Meetha), Khatta Meetha(Aila Re Aila),Welcome(Ek Uncha Lamba Kad),No Problem(Shakira Bhi Se Zyada Tera Hille lakn i & Babe Di Kripa),De Dana Dan(Hotty Notty), Billu(Billu Bhayankar), Chamku(Dukh Ke Badri),Mirchh(Tikhi Tikhi Mirch - Folk version), Chand ke paar chalo(Dhin chak lad Gayee),Stumped(Ek Sapna- western version), Sandhya(Mohabbat Mohabbat) ,88 Antop hill, Antardwand, etc.

Her latest conquest being a rocking performance at the recent India’s Happiest music Festival - Bacardi Nh7 Weekender Pune @ Bandra Fort with world renowned percussionist Trilok Gurtu.

Kalpana Patowary was the featured artist of Coke Studio 2013@MTV India Season 3 (CLICK) with Angarag Papon Mahanta aired on 17th August 2013.

She was also awarded The Thumb Print's choice of the Coolest Northeasterners of 2013.

She got International acclaim with the release of her Bhojpuri musical documentation on the Shakespeare of Bhojpuri Literature – The Legacy of Bhikhari Thakur from EMI/Virgin Records which got nominated for GIMA 2013*Global Indian Music Academy Awards in the BestFolk Album category.

Her latest album to be released in  2013 is Maa-e-ri – A Lyrical conversation with Mother Nature which documents the perils about the Law of Nature and urges respect for the Nature’s laws for a sustainable future.  

She is also working on a musical documentation to lay down connections for the future, about the reformer, a wandering philosopher, saint and poet, creative genius and consummate artist MAHAPURUSH SRIMANTO SHANKARDEVA and his disciple SRIMANTA MADHAVDEVA in Assam who walked across Northern India, to the source of the Ganges and returned to his people in the cloistered valley of Assam and called for a union of all the people in a united Bharatvarsha. He preached Eka-Sarana-Nama-Dharma a monotheistic doctrine based on the Bhagvata Purana with Surdas, Chandidas, Kabir, Vidyapati the Maithili Poet and Lyricist, Mirabai, Narsi Mehta the poet saint and Bhakta from Gujarat, Vallabhacharya the devotional philosopher from Andhra, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal at a time when a young 24 year old Guru Nanak was also exploring his own vision of Eka-Sarana-Nama-Dharma which he went on to preach throughout the world as “Ek Omkar Satnam”. It was the dawn of the Bhakti Era. The language used is BRAJAWALI and she will be credited of bringing back some of Assams primitive instruments in collaboration for the first time with Trilok Gurtu, son of legendary vocalist Shobha Gurtu - master of Indian music, tabla, percussion, and Western drumming who plays a unique hybrid East-West drum set up @ Guru Rewben Mashangva Father of Naga folk blues. 

As Kalpana says, I don’t want my folk music to be trapped in our villages. Yes it’s safe there in its original form, but of no use unless we make the world hear our very soulful and meditative music. So to make it global I am trying to blend the music of my homeland with world music and other genres. Hats off to you Kalpana on your effort to expose Assamese folk traditions & Bhojpuri artistic traditions into Indian mainstream music scene.

USP@ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Patowary           

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