Indie music scene is like an open playground: Joy Sengupta

Musician Joy Sengupta of both Tamil and Bengali origin, talks about his mixed heritage and its influence on his musical journey, being a part of the Raghu Dixit band and more.
Suprabhatam, radio songs and kutcheries: his time in Chennai
Most of my musical learning has come from listening even though I’ve formally learned Rabindra Sangeet as a child. This applies to my knowledge of Carnatic music also.When I lived in Chennai, I was introduced to Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman and became their lifelong fan. My aunt used to teach classical music and my cousins would perform in kutcheries so I was exposed to that. I would wake up to suprabhatam, songs on the radio and then going to kutcheries was what my time in Chennai looked like.
‘I exited the band to go to Bombay and enter the Bollywood industry’
I stayed with my cousin brother Sathish Ragunathan who is a well-established music composer in Chennai. I learned from him and the city. Eventually, I got into a fingerstyle guitar, it was very rare at the time and even now. I was at a competition for fingerstyle guitarists in Bangalore. The next day after that show, I got a call from Raghu Dixit’s manager asking me to come in as he wanted to meet me. On that very same day, I worked with him on a project and that’s how it all started.
Later on, I exited the band with the purpose of coming to Bombay to enter the Bollywood industry as working here for me, was always a dream. I started working in Bombay and then slowly got into music composition and producing as well. My goal is to be in music in any format possible, keeping all the avenues of opportunities open from singing and composing to even producing.
In a band, there is a fixed role, and you travel together, feeding off each other’s energy and it’s a lot of fun but your role is dictated by the vision of the band leader, in my case Raghu Dixit. When it comes to an indie perspective, it’s like an open playground, you are free to do what you want and wear multiple hats at the same time which gives us a lot of scope and opportunities. This is challenging yet interesting to create something to give your own identity to your music.
On his upcoming work…
My dream is to become a music composer, I have a series of seven to eight songs that will be coming this year featuring various artistes like Madhubanti Bagchi who has worked on shows like Heeramandi and more. I recently sang in a Hindi series called Love Storiyan and I am working on a Bollywood feature film as a composer and also working on a background score for national-award-winning filmmaker Teenaa Kaur’s documentary film.
‘Decided to pursue it full time and enter the next phase of my music journey’
I come from a mixed family my mother is a Tamilian and my father, is a Bengali, so I have been exposed to different kinds of music. Then in college, I fell in love with Bengali rock music, which fascinated me and made me want to perform. I worked at an IT firm for a while, but then I decided to pursue it full-time and enter the next phase of my music journey.