Papon (Angaraag Mahanta) is a talented singer. Composer, programmer, producer - born in Assam. A very gifted music artist, 37 year old Papon formed an electronic folk-fusion band called Papon and The East India Company which has performed in the SAARC Music Band Festival. He has been a part of MTV Coke Studio 2013, has performed at NH7, and has also appeared in the sixth episode of The Dewarists with Rabbie Shergill and many other Indian festivals.

In 2012, he won the GIMA Awards for Best Pop Album of the Year for his debut Hindi album, ‘The Story So Far’. In 2012 only he won the JD Annual Rock Awards for Two categories, The Best Male Voice of the year and for the Best Song of the year (Boitha Maro). He has also dabbled in playback singing for Bollywood and is now a successful singer/composer has worked for some big banner films.

His film projects as a playback have been few and far between — the highlights being the breakthrough Jiye kyun from ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ (2011), Kyun from ‘Barfi’ (2012) and Maula from ‘Madras Café’ (2013) — but he is now gaining credence as a composer. He has also down work for the box office film ‘Bajrangi Bhaijan’, ‘Bombay Velvet’ and ‘Hawaizaada’ among many others. Papon has also composed a dreamy, old-fashioned duet with Shreya Ghosal for ‘Bobby Jasoos’.

His initial training has been in Indian classical music and traditional music (religious and folk) from Assam. His experiments include elements of ambient electronica, acoustic folk, Ghazals, new-age, and Indian classical music.

Papon released his first album ‘Jonaaki Raati’ in Assamese in 2004. He also jams with MIdiVal Punditz and with Susmit Sen of Indian Ocean.

In an exclusive chat with Verus Ferreira, he reveals his tryst with music, his collaborations and his working in Bollywood.

Do you enjoy live performances or studio settings?

I don’t know, may be because I wasn’t doing film music. My band is about 3-4 years old, but we took a break in between because I was waiting for my album to be released that’s where I got stuck to a label conceptually and nothing happened there and three four years were lost. We were taking it easy till the album comes out, but things just didn’t work out. Otherwise, we are more active back in Assam where I have a large fan following. I do another act called Medieval Punditz which is also kind of Delhi based band, maybe it is niche music, but my stuff can be mainstream also. My album has just released, so hopefully we will do more stuff now.

You have performed with a few international artists sometime back like Rachel Sermanni from Scotland. Anything new as of now?

I did an album with Rachel Sermanni. She is a girl from Scotland who is slowly getting popular over there. She is very good. So it’s me, Rachel and percussionist Bikram Ghosh from Kolkata who have formed a project called Troi Kala. We are looking at producing an album and hopefully it will be out soon. As Rachel comes from Scotland she comes with her own space, her Scottish folk, Scottish ideas and her own original compositions and I come with my ideas and Indian sensibilities, while Bikram comes as a percussionist, so you see, we all come together and I think the most important in collaboration is to connect, it is a conversation, it’s a musical conversation like we are trying to connect through music and talk to each other through music. So if we connect well, if we bind well with each other we can except and reject things openly, and that’s when a collaboration works.

Any recent collaboration?

I have not been doing a lot of collaborations lately, just maybe one track here and there.

What does your music speak about?

While I performed at Sulafest some years ago, I did folk songs from Assam, while I began with songs from my Hindi album. I did a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saab cover, while the rest are my original compositions. I don’t know what genre, what style they fall into, but it’s just music that you can enjoy. I do few different styles now I do Ghazals, Indian classical. My production has a lot of rock in it so it’s a mix, I might do three four different styles of music, so it varies I would say.

So you cannot fit your music into any one genre…

It is difficult to put it in one genre, its genre free music (Laughs)

Your real name is Angaraag Mahanta. How did it come to be Papon?

Papon is my pet name. Yes my real name is Angaraag Mahanta. But then Papon is like pet name. The name has stuck since childhood and somehow it has this zing in it, it’s so catchy and with time I got popular. (Laughs)

So then what about Papon and the East India Company…

East India Company is because all of us are from East of Assam. We were figuring out a name for the band and we just found it. It is actually the Kolkata based company that was existing at that time that came to be known as the East India Company, so we thought we might as well use it. It sounded nice as it also meant a place and area we come from. So when we founded the band our idea was to invade the world with music not with guns, and so we used the name East India Company. We have eight members in the band. (Smiles)

The band you are currently playing with, are they your full time musicians or session musicians?

This is one band. All these people only play together.

You have about 9 albums, including collaborations with other artists, how many albums do you have of your own?

Actually I don’t know how it came about to the number 9, but this is also I do lot of work in Assam like someone is doing an album I sang in couple of them infact got nominated in GIMA Awards last year. Two albums of mine were in the same category like best folk album category. So all this combined is 9, like otherwise my original composition is like two album of my work alone.

Why we have not heard about you all this time?

This could be more because the language is not well known here in Mumbai and the local distribution and market was more in Assam. It was only now Times Music wanted to release my Hindi album. Infact I have also convinced them to release my Assamese music albums here to. So let’s wait and see how things work out.

People know you more in Assam than in Mumbai, any reason for this.

I have been around in the scene for a long time now. Though I have not been seen, people know me because I am on the internet. They know me because of my various collaboration like Karsh Kale and people also knew that I had an album going around for a while. I went to Saregama for a record deal and it did not work out. I then went to Phat Fish Records and got stuck for three years they didn’t release me even though nothing was happening with them. I couldn’t leave as I was stuck due to the contract. They didn’t release me off the contract but it finally got over and I got a call from this guy at Times Music and things have just started to move on. I met them and let’s hope and see what happens.

So you have finally released your Hindi album, was this language new to you, since you speak Assamese?

No basically what happened I had always spoken in Assamese which was my mother language and second was Hindi. I used to listen to Ghazals and Indian classical music since my childhood so Hindi was also my language. I had sung so much of it in my music too. So I had to do a Hindi album one day or other. So these on my album which I have just released, were songs that I made through while I was travelling all these years. There was no plan to make an album, but then I had so many songs bundles up that I thought since I have so much work, why not release an album and so that’s how it happened.

So what are the highlights on the album?

My Hindi album is titled 'The Story so Far' and is released by Times Music globally. It has also been put on iTunes, the popular online music application store, making them the first Assamese numbers to achieve the feat. The album was released in Mumbai in the presence of noted filmmaker Jahnu Baruah and my parents Khagen and Archana Mahanta. The compilation of 10 songs out of which nine have been composed, programmed, produced and sung by me, the album, is a labor of love made up of songs that enabled me to reach the platform I have attained now. The album is a compilation of songs that I had 'weaved' almost 10 years ago. It is a mélange of earthy folk sounds and contemporary arrangement with nine Hindi and two Assamese tracks. There is a song called ‘Jiye Kyo’ from ‘Dum Maro Dum’ that I had sung and a few others. I like being selective. Back home I have done songs in Assamese for the Assamese film industry too.

Do you enjoy working with Bollywood now?

I cannot make any dance music for a Bollywood movie. I don’t think I am an item kind of person anyway. I don’t think I can make any song like an item song. I think those kinds of songs really don’t impress me much. It’s not about not liking them, I can’t make them. I make what I like if you know what songs I have done for Bollywood so far.

So who are the people who have influenced you?

There have been lots. My inspiration actually came from the wide array of sound that I was exposed to from the traditional Vaishnavite devotional songs of Assam to new-age electronica, But going back in time I would say it is my parents Khagen Mahanta and Archana Mahanta who really gave me my musical direction; yeah my father is a folk legend in Assam. He is a National Award winner, while my mother is an Indian classical musician, so they both have sung together for like 50 years and are respected musicians of the region. My father is the legend of folk in Assam, so yeah I come from a musical family and so they are my first influences. Besides myself I have a sister. My other musical influences would be Mehndi Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saab, Sting, and Frank Zappa.

What has the response been to your music?

Very nice, we have sold out in all the pre order of website flipkart.com. That means the album is good and selling.

What do your songs normally touch upon?

Some of them…..something about nature, something about you’re leaving tonight, sadness, different kind of stories actually. Some are imaginary…some are like questions as to why love happens….

Any collaboration on the album….

It’s my own production; musicians have come in place to play as only backup band nothing else.

Do you play any musical instruments?

I play something called khol in Assam; it’s a local instrument…. Then I have learnt, but hardly play the tabla, I play the harmonium, keyboards and love to fool around the drums. I also play the guitar sometimes.

Are you married?

Yeah I am married; I have two children, a boy Puhor and daughter Parijaat. I have shifted to Bombay about 3 years ago, after spending about 12 years in Delhi. Let’s see how it goes.

So what do you love about Mumbai?

I have hardly stayed in Bombay, as I am travelling all the time and moving around the country for concerts, so I really have not got a chance to spend a lot time in Mumbai really.

Text and Photos by Verus Ferreira