Srabani Sen

Daughter of the veteran exponent of Tagore songs,Smt.Sumitra Sen, sibling of the prolific artiste, Indrani Sen, she is an able successor to the gharana, which has contributed immensely to the spread of Tagore’s music across the world. Srabani’s tutelage commenced under her mother’s able guidance followed by her rigorous training at Geetabitan Music Institute from where she came out with flying colours. An academically resplendent Srabani, embarked on her professional career as a journalist in a premier publishing house after her post-graduation in Geography from Calcutta University and went on to become the sub-editor of a popular women’s magazine later on. Srabani recorded first time in1986, in HMV but unfortunately it was not released., Her debut album, Amar Ekti Katha(1993) won her accolades from senior singers and musicians, it was pretty later that she shot into prominence after her foray into the playback scenario with Rituparno Ghosh’s critically acclaimed film Utsab.Here was a singer, gifted with a resonant,dulcet tonal quality and an unmannered, unique style of rendition that set her apart from her contemporaries.Srabani paved her own path to success and offers started pouring in from eminent filmmakers like Gautam Ghosh (Dekha),Raja Sen (Chakravyuha) Anjan Das (Sanjhbatir Rupkathara),Subrata Sen (Swapner Feriwalla) Urmi Chakraborty(Hemanter Pakhi) and others. Srabani was flooded with offers from premier recording companies and within a short span ,she turned out to be the most commercially viable Rabindrasangeet singer of the present generation .Srabani’s album Bhalobasha Kare Koy(2003) topped the chartbuster racks in leading music retail outlets for over two years. 02An indispensable presence at all soirees of Tagore songs across the country ,Srabani was invited to perform at Rabindra Mela, New Jersey, USA in 2003 followed by her phenomenal success at Doha,Qatar as the first singer to have performed RabindraSangeet. She travelled to North Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, and in 2005,she was once again invited by Bangamela, Chicago, USA.Her electrifying performance at LosAngeles, Houston, Dallas, Buffalo and Ann Arbour won her rave reviews. Last year she was invited at Australia,for the programme at Melborne, Sydney and Brisbane,to celebrate Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary. Her programmes were highly appreciated.
Srabani Sen also perfomed at NABC, Detroit 2007, BanglaUtsab, Canada. She had the privelege of sharing the stage with nationally acclaimed singers like Kavita Krishnamurthy and the legendary Asha Bhonsley at Panchakanya ,Science City Auditorium in 2009. Her offering released in 2009 Patha Cheye,is a collection of seldom heard Tagore songs and has earned rave reviews . In 2010.she went to Canada by the invitation of Toronto Sanskritik Sanstha, in May,Srabani travelled to Harrow,performed at London in Probash Parbon in September and in November end she performed for the second time at Doha, Qatar.Srabani has over 60 solo albums to her credit now besides a host of assorted collections.She collaborated with German musician Stoppok for the album,Tagore & We which is a runaway hit and has recently cut a fusion album Yatra-2 with eminent classical vocalist Kaushiki Desikan. She has also received the Bengal’s Film Journalists Award (BFJA) as the best female playback singer award for the year 2001 for UTSAB and the best Rabindra Sangeet album “NISHITHE” from Zee Bangla in 2006. Apart from that, Srabani has sung in CHIRANTAN, a ballet choreographed by noted danseuse Tanusree Shankar, where Amitabh Bachchan given the narration. 09Srabani trained Rabindra Sangeet to Bengal’s most popular band BHOOMI for their album on tagore songs ‘NATUN JOUBONERI DOOT’.
She just received best female vocalist (rabindrasangeet),best album of the year-UTTARON, from RADIO MIRCHI and GIMA Award for YATRA- 2.