Papon

Early life

He was born to the Assamese folk singer couple Khagen Mahanta and Archana Mahanta. He spent most of his childhood in Assam and he was introduced to music early on in his childhood.

Career

Papon's initial training was in Indian Classical, devotional (Borgeet) and folk music. He learnt vocals primarily but also plays the khol, tabla, guitar, and harmonium. His music covers genres such as ambient electronic, acoustic folk and new-age Indian classical music and it has been identified as having traces of pentatonic Mongoloid notes, local river song influences and ghazals. Although his first language is Assamese he has also sung in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Marathi, Mishing and Bengali.

His latest Bollywood song is "Labon ka karobar" in the film Befikre (2016). In 2016, he sang "Bulleya" for the film Sultan. In 2015, he sang "Moh moh ke dhage" for the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha and "Humnava" in Hamari Adhuri Kahani (2015). In 2014, he sang "Lakeerein", which is a poem by Gulzar, for the film Kya Dilli Kya Lahore and "Sun ri Bavli" for Nagesh Kukunoor's film Lakshmi. In 2014 only he also had sung two songs "Sun le re" and "Khudse" from the movie Madras Cafe (2013). He recorded a hit song "Kyon" for the movie Barfi!. He has also sung the title song from Inkaar (2013). His first big song in Bollywood was "Jiyein kyun" from the movie Dum Maro Dum. Papon released his first album, Junaki Raati in Assamese at the end of 2004, marking a new kind of regional sound. The second album he produced was Sinaaki Osinaaki, which was released in November, 2009. Papon has also sung on a few other albums produced by various artists in Assam. His first folk music album was Rangphul a Bihu album, after which he produced Gomseng and subsequently, Phagunor Gaan an album representing the typical holi songs of Barpeta in West Assam. He sang on a devotional Borgeet album called Chandamukhi and is working on a traditional folk album of Tokari songs. On the first edition of Coke Studio @ MTV, he performed on the popular bihu song Pak Pak.

Papon returned to Coke Studio @ MTV in 2013, and this time around, he produced his very own episode for the popular show. This makes Papon the only musician to have grown with Coke Studio @ MTV, having now been involved in all three seasons of the show. For his episode on this season of the show, Papon produced 6 songs – 3 brand new compositions and 3 cross-border folk songs. In the first season of Coke Studio @ MTV, Papon sang the upbeat song "Pak Pak (Bihu Naam)", produced by Lesle Lewis, and in its second season, he produced his own track, the high-spirited Assamese folk song "Tokari" and also featured as a vocalist on celebrated musician composer Nitin Sawhney's episode singing the beautiful, almost melancholic folk song "Sahil Tak".

Papon's work on this season of Coke Studio @ MTV has been critically lauded and videos of his tracks have received thousands of views on YouTube within a week. Of the 3 new compositions, "Tauba", with Benny Dayal, has received more than 1.5 million views, while the Papon solo "Khumaar" has received over 500,000 views. "Benaam Khwahishein" has also received close to 1.5 million views. Papon also reinvented 3 folk songs for his episode of Coke Studio @ MTV. "Baisara Beera", is a Rajasthani folk song Papon learned from his father; "Dinae Dinae", with Harshdeep Kaur, is a beautiful Bhatiali river song from Goalpara in Assam, in the Sufi tradition, and has received over 450,000 views; and "Jhumor ( ঝুমুৰ )", a rousing song of the tea tribes in Assam.

Angaraag once stated in his interview with NDTV Good Times that he wishes to travel worldwide and perform in various music festivals. At the same time, he also wants to meet different musicians, be exposed to different forms of music and collaborate with various talented musicians to create amazing and beautiful music. Some of his initial stuff was widely considered a novelty in the Assamese musical scenario. It was a blend of East-Indian folk music and Western electronic musical arrangement, enhanced by atmospheric sounds effects. In most of these endeavors, he collaborated with the East India Company, of which he is a founding member.

A seven-part documentary web series by Red Bull titled Hometown Heroes which narrated the singer's journey, as he travels back to his roots in Assam and how he became a famous musician in the Indian music scene was released in August 2016.

In 2013, Papon was also responsible for the theme song for MTV Roadies X: Battle for Glory – "Jajabor" (Jajabor being an Assemese word for yayavar - "traveler").

Band

In 2007, Papon formed an electronic folk-fusion band called Papon and The East India Company. The band consists of Papon on vocals, Brin Desai and Hameem Kader on live electronics, Jinti on lead guitars, Kirti on percussion and Dipu on bass and Tanmay on Drums The six members came from backgrounds varying from Assamese folk to metal and blues to trip hop.

The band has performed twice at the SAARC Music Band Festival in New Delhi, the Eastwind Festival and the Kovalam Literary Festival and has performed overseas with Sutasi in Singapore. The band took a two-year break in the wait for a solo album which released internationally at the end of 2011. The band is back in action in November with 4 big festivals in the same month. They also played at the October Fest in Bangalore, NH7 Weekender fest in Pune and the Rock for Rights concert in New Delhi.

Earlier their track "OMO" was taken on by Saregama HMV for release on the compilation album, The Underground along with a song called "Jiya Baittho Jai" in an album called Sahibol. In 2008, their track called "Khuda Hota" was released by Dada Music an extension of Music Today.

In 2015, Papon and The East India Company performed at Oasis in BITS Pilani Pilani Campus, Dhaka International Folk Fest and in 2016, he performed at Spree in BITS Pilani Goa Campus.

Personal life

He lives in Mumbai with his wife Shweta Mishra Mahanta and they have two children, a son named Puhor and daughter named Parijaat. His father, noted Assamese folk singer Khagen Mahanta, died on 12 June 2014.

Collaborations

Papon has performed with the MIDIval Punditz and Karsh Kale at various festivals around the world including the Paléo Music Festival in Switzerland, Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore and Oslo World Music Festival in Norway. Aside from performing with them, Papon has co-written a couple of songs with the MIDIval Punditz that featured on their third album Hello Hello which ranked among the top three songs on Amazon, worldwide. He collaborated with the Welling Jazz Band, in Wellington, New Zealand, for a project playing some of his music during Crossings festival held in Wellington, New Zealand in 2007. Also in the project was Rihan Sheehan, a popular electronic artist and producer from Wellington. He also wrote a song with Karsh Kale for his new album Cinema. He is working on two international collaborations which were to be released in 2012.

Papon has featured in albums which carry the labels of MDR Records, in a collaboration with Times Music, and has also featured in the soundtrack of Bollywood films Dum Maaro Dum, I Am Kalam, Soundtrack, Patang, and most recently Barfi!. He also featured on the Indian leg of the show Coke Studio @ MTV. He performed on the show Global Indian Film Awards with MIDIval Punditz, Kailash Kher and Shubha Mudgal. He also appeared on Star world India, Episode six of The Dewarists with Rabbi Shergill and recorded a song "Khule Da Rabb". Papon has also worked with Shantanu Moitra in the 4th season of The Dewarists for 'O Megh' which is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's poem of same name.

Awards and achievements

Mahanta has received several awards and honors, including three GiMA Awards, two Jack Daniel’s Rock Awards, and a Screen Award. Assamese news channel News Live awarded Mahanta the "Assamese of The Year" award for the year 2015.