KCC Offstage ft. Borno Anonyo
Date: 15 March 2025
Time: 6:30 PM
Venue: KCC 4th Floor
Welcome to "KCC Offstage", a series of exclusive, interactive, and intimate musical evenings where distinguished performing artists take centerstage, offering a rare glimpse into their artistic journey. Each session features renowned artists sharing captivating anecdotes, personal insights, and impromptu musical performances, forging a unique connection with the audience.
Our sixth and last episode of this season's KCC Offstage features Borno Anonyo – a collective of friends documenting music and fostering an evolving artistic identity. The music is rooted firmly in urban Bengal, yet it branches out – connecting with literary modernism, mystic traditions, children's rhymes, theatre, and protest movements.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
Satyaki Banerjee is a renowned folk musician, composer, and music director, known for blending mystical and urban folk traditions with contemporary storytelling. His music, deeply rooted in political and philosophical thought, resonates in Kolkata’s streets, university campuses, and international festivals.
As the founder of Borno Anonyo, he has redefined urban folk, serving as a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. His work extends beyond albums into films, documentaries, and theatre productions, shaping narratives with his distinct folk sensibilities. In cinema, he was the music director for Kura Pokkhir Shunnye Uraa (2022), which won Best International Film at the Kolkata International Film Festival (2023). He collaborates extensively with National Award-winning director Pradipta Bhattacharya, including on Nadharer Bhela (2025), which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and continues to tour globally.
Dedicated to preserving musical heritage, Satyaki is a key member of Satabdir Sabdo (Centennial Sounds), directing live scores for restored silent films like Behula (1921) and Kaliya Mardan (1919), performed at IFFI (Goa) and other major festivals. With over two decades of experience, he remains a driving force in folk and film music, seamlessly blending tradition with innovation.
Nabamita Das is a singer-songwriter with the Borno Anonyo ensemble. Her journey in music began at the age of seven with Indian classical training and later in Rabindra Sangeet, particularly the Toppa style. She has grown up listening to and learning folk music from her grandfather, Late Bidit Lal Das, the composer of Shader Lau, Bhromor Koiyo Giya, Morile Kandhish Ne among many others. She did her doctoral research from the University of Birmingham and has been teaching at Presidency University since 2013. Her academic interest lies in the areas of gender studies, children’s literature, and the philosophy of the everyday. She moves back and forth between the academic and the performative to create a form of art in Borno Anonyo that stitches the literary and the poetic though a musical narrative.
Rajarshi Ghosh is a management consultant in the field of education. Watching his brother learn the guitar inspired him to teach himself. He is a self-taught guitarist and has been composing songs since school. Today, he is a rhythm guitarist, vocalist and composer in the musical collective named after his son, Borno Anonyo. Many of the band’s original songs are Rajarshi’s compositions. These melodies often echo a pop nostalgia of band music of the city and also, the minor chords of melancholia of homecoming.
Dibyokamal Mitra plays the violin, viola and mandolin with Borno Anonyo and occasionally sings. Having trained as a western classical musician from his youth, he was later attracted by the sounds of swing and hot jazz. Working in music as a teacher, composer, performer, writer and arranger, he has lectured on the history of western music to university students, as well as written newspaper articles on the same. He has played with orchestras internationally, and has composed and performed for feature films, plays and advertisements. He is the founder member of The Big Other, one of India’s only bands that play in the style of Django Reinhardt which has come to be known as ‘gypsy jazz’.
Premjit Dutta started his musical journey at the early age of 5, when he started learning Tabla and is a Sangeet Visharad. He is also a disciple of veteran Conguero Monojit Kochu Datta and has also completed his formal grades for Percussions and Theory of Music from Trinity College, London. He is currently recording and touring with experimental Jazz-Fusion act THE BODHISATTWA TRIO and has also been a part of Latin-Jazz outfit THE LATINATION. He was one of the top ten international talents and the only Indian musician invited by the Music Board Berlin and Pop-Kultur Festival 2016. He has been teaching at The Calcutta School of Music and C4 for more than a decade.
Mainak Nag Chowdhury, aka Bumpy, is a renowned bass player, songwriter, composer, and music producer from Kolkata. With over 30 years of experience, he has represented Indian music across 18 countries, collaborating with national and international artists. His diverse musical expertise spans RnB, Rock n’ Roll, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Hindustani and Carnatic classical, and Jazz. He is the creator of the Maitrayee Bass, a unique double-neck instrument. Mainak has performed and recorded with legends like Monojit Datta, Amyt Datta, Pt Debashish Bhattacharya, Pt Tanmoy Bose, Pt Bickram Ghosh, John McLaughlin, Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram, and Talvin Singh, among others. His notable performances include venues like The Blue Frog (Mumbai), Royal Festival Hall (London), Birds Eye Jazz Club (Basel), Royal Festival Hall, Palace de Bozar (Brussels), National Theatre and jazz festivals worldwide, including NH7 Weekender. He has also been featured on national television in Slovenia and covered by international media. His compositions are taught in Brooklyn’s "Face The Music" program, and he has conducted lectures at universities in Norwich and Kuala Lumpur. A key figure in the Bangla rock movement, he co-released the bestselling 2007 album RNB with Rupam Islam. He continues to create original music with bands like Kendraka, The Orient Express, and Borno Anonyo.
