SANDHI
Sandhi was bound to become a musician. Born in a family where music is taken as staple diet of mind,
Khayam Sanu Sandhi began his music journey on the lap of his father who is a trained musician from Rabindra Bharati, BTV music composer and a music teacher of Shishu Academy . Like any good musician, Sandhi has the know-how of the grammar of music. From classical to western rock, just name it; he has done it all from a very young age. Sandhi's credential is long as any ripened musician. Recently, Star Showbiz caught up with him for an interview.
THE CHILD PHASE
We have music school at home. My initiation of music came from home. I started with Indian classical, Nazrul and Rabindra Sangeet and folk songs. My very first stage appearance was at the age of two and a half at Shishu Academy. Since my home was a music school, music came to me naturally. From then on, by the time I was at school, I had already won three national awards. In 1995, I won the second prize in Notun Kuri.
THE MOHAKAL PHASE
Although I was learning all genre of music, my interest was in Nazrul Sangeet. At grade 10, I started learning to play guitar. Slowly, through guitar, western music began to penetrate my musical mind. Along with my friends – we were still in the learning phase – I formed a band called “Mohakal”, an alternative Rock band. We started jamming in a room of our house. It led to the commercial release of our song in Shopnochura 1, a mixed album. Just for a trial, our band sent a demo – it was a very casual song. In our surprise, everyone liked the song. The album also featured bands like: Black, Aurthohin, Yatri and so on… For such a young band, it was a moment of pride and encouragement. We started taking Mohakal seriously. Later, our song was featured in Shopnochura 3, Rock 202 and Rock 404. Our motivation just sky-rocketed, we kept practicing and by 2011 we had enough songs of our own to have our very own album. Our first album was self-titled.
THE STUDIO PHASE
Since 2005, I started composing TV themes and jingles. My work being on TV and radio inspired me more, which led me get more into studio work. In 2009, I was offered a huge project from Gray for a TV reality show called “Horlicks Future Force”. From then on, many other large projects from big corporations started knocking me. I was lucky enough to compose a song in Cricket World Cup in 2011. These opportunities gave me courage to work for my own full length album.
THE SOLO PROJECT PHASE
Again in 2011 and 2012, sponsored by Airtel, I worked on two radio musical project called “Bhalobashi Tomake 1 and 2 by Sandhi”. It was a live show and the first 'radio musical' in Bangladesh. Out of 11 songs, 9 were composed and written by me. Renowned singers: Bappa, Elita, Shakib, Joyita, Shovvota and many others sang on my tunes. The great aspect of the album was that it was all acoustic. I used guitar, ektara, dotara, sitar to create fusion and experimental music. I also experimented with genres – from punk rock, romantic ballad, folk groove to Indian classical. Through these albums I gained an identity and a standard which I maintain. At times, to stay within my standards and identity, I had to refuse many offers to do songs for movies.
THE MOVIE PHASE
Although I refused many offers for working on movies, I am currently working on Animesh Aich's movie “Zero Degree”, where I felt I can maintain my identity. In the movie, I am singing a duet with Nancy and composing a Rabindra Sangeet.
THE CURRENT PHASE
Currently, I am working on a project with BBC. Directed by Giasuddin Selim, the drama project is called “Ujan Ganger Naiya”. I am doing the background score for the drama. I worked for BBC before and was appreciated for my efforts. Last year, I didn't release any album. I am planning something huge for this year. Along with two others I have another project called “Project Neon”. Here, we will be doing projects with various artistes who are the best at their fields. It opens up my opportunity to experiment more with music.
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