SUDEEP BANERJI

Winner of 2022 IIMA awards for the best Ghazal album NOOR  Sudeep Banerji has attained an important place in the stalwarts of Ghazal singers and connoisseurs in India and abroad, having performed alongside the likes of Mehdi Hassan, , Jagjit Singh ,Pankaj Udhas ,Ghulam Ali, Bhupinder Singh , Ustad Rashid Khan, Gulzar and many more . Sudeep regularly performs on the international stage as well as on our home terrain India. He has an extensive fan following especially amongst those that appreciate the purer art of ghazal singing. His dream is to get Ghazals into the mainstream, which he says is not a difficult task as more and more people are drawing towards this genre.
Sudeep’s passion for the ghazal as an art form is evident from the fact that he does not stop at merely singing it. He is one of the very few ghazal singers well versed in Urdu language and literature which puts him within easy access to a repository of enchanting modern Indian and Pakistani poetry and above all, the fascinating unexplored collection of centuries old classical Urdu poetry. He thus brings to the stage a thorough understanding of Urdu and its literary idioms alongwith his art of performance.
He has a repertoire of ghazals ranging from Ghalib to Meer, Zauq, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Ahmad Faraz, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli as well as the contemporary poets of today. He manages to transcend the complexity of their poetry and conveys it in an unforgettable, remarkably easy to grasp, rendition for his listener in a manner that has become his trademark, the poetry flowing effortlessly in his voice, set to his own music compositions. It would be only fair to say here that the listener is spoilt for choice between Sudeep’s soulful voice, his music and the beauty of the poetry that he handpicks to recite.
Sudeep was born in a musical family in Allahabad and bought up in Delhi. His love for ghazal started at a young age when he started setting rare poetry of various poets to music. What better location than “dilli” to inspire a young enthusiast? Sudeep’s inspiration from the works of poets such as Mirza Ghalib, Zafar and Amir Khusro was just the beginning of the journey of a schoolboy that continued through his college years. The intensity of his passion and his commitment to the art form led him to take up ghazal singing as his career of choice. He then went on to complete his musical training under Smt Shanti Hiranandji the foremost disciple of Begum Akhtar ji.
Apart from his main passion that is Ghazal, Sudeep’s repertoire extends to being a very successful music director in Mumbai. He has composed music for more that 150 albums, both for films as well as other musical compilations be it ghazals, geet, bhajans, in both Indian or western styles. Singers such as Asha Bhosle, Jagjit Singh, Rekha Bhardwaj ,Hari Haran, Ustad Rashid Khan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Sunidhi Chauhan etc have all sung under his music direction. Added to this, Sudeep has released his own Ghazal albums over time, the latest being ‘Dhadkan Dhadkan’ released in 2015. Sudeep has also been nominated for the prestigious award GIMA twice for his super hit ghazal albums ‘Irshaad’ and ‘Ae dost teri dosti’.
Sudeep has worked most closely with two legends in Ghazal world, Jagjit Singh ji and Pankaj Udhas ji. Sudeep has been integral part of the ‘Khazana Ghazal Festival’ for many years .Sudeep is also one of the jury members for the biggest Ghazal Talent Hunt . Sudeep is involved in the overall music arrangement as well as composing the theme song for the same and sharing the stage with other stalwarts in the field of Ghazal singing in India.
Sudeep’s constant experimentation with different styles of music composition brought him to another milestone in his journey– Musical theatre. His first exposure to composing for theatre started with Sagar Sarhadi sahib in Mumbai. He went on to compose music for Sagar sahib’s movie ‘Chauser’ working alongside Nida Fazli and Jagjit Singh. His association with the field of musical theatre concretised with his association with Gulzar sahib, composing for his plays ‘Paansa’ (under the direction of Salim Arif), ‘Googly Jhanak Jhayeen’ (based on the Satyajit Ray epic Gopi gyana bhaga gyan) and lately ‘Chakkar Chalaye Ghanchakkar’.
Sudeep shares a special rapport with director Salim Arif and has composed music for all his theatre productions for a number of years. ‘Tera Bayan Ghalib’, the brainchild of Salim Arif, is Sudeep’s latest venture where he sings Ghalib as Ghalib himself would have sung his poetry years ago.  
Eagerly awaited in the coming months are Sudeep’s two new albums where he lends his voice and music to the poetry of Ghalib and Jaun Elia in a contemporary unique style all of his own. Not only will Sudeep be presenting a fresh musical perspective to his rendition of Ghalib’s old favourites that seem to come straight from his soul, but is also set to enthrall his fans with a new selection from Jaun Elia bringing out the raw intensity of the poetry that only his unique blend of music composition and vocals can do justice to.
Sudeep has colaborated with Vishal Bhardwaj for his album Ghaliban ,an album on MIrza Ghalib
Sudeep Just released his latest single Ghazal album called “NOOR” wirtten by Aalok Shrivastav at Khazana Ghazal Festival 2018 .