Zubeen Garg is a singer and composer from Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, India, in the Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 and Assamese music scene. He plays dhols, guitar, dotora, mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

, keyboard

Electronic keyboard

An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...

 and various percussion instrument

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

s.

Background

Garg hails from Jorhat

Jorhat

Jorhat is a city of Assam in India. Jorhat was established as a new capital in the closing years of the 18th century by the declining Tunkhungia Ahom Dynasty. Jorhat, as the name signifies, was just a couple of markets . Two parallel markets namely, Chowkihat and Macharhat, lay on the eastern...

, a city in upper Assam. His birth name is Zubeen Borthakur. He was named after the great composer Zubin Mehta and uses his gotra

Gotra

In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...

 name, Garg, as his surname. Garg was born to Mohan Borthakur, a famous lyricist, poet and a magistrate (who uses the pseudonym Kapil Thakur), and the late Ily Borthakur.

The Borthakur family has its roots in Janji, Sivasagar. Mohan Borthakur was a magistrate and he and his family moved often during Garg's early years. Ily Borthakur was a dancer, actress and singer, but she never turned these talents into a professional career. Instead, she decided to teach her son at home. Garg's younger sister Jongki Borthakur was a well-known singer and actress who died in a car accident in 2002 near Tezpur while they were going to perform stage show. There after Zubeen made an album known as "SHISHU" in memory of his siter. Zubeen's other sister Palme, a bharatanatyam

Bharatanatyam

Bharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...

 dancer, runs a dance academy in Guwahati

Guwahati

Guwahati, Pragjyotishpura in ancient Assam formerly known as Gauhati is a metropolis,the largest city of Assam in India and ancient urban area in North East India, with a population of 963,429. It is also the largest metropolitan area in north-eastern India...

.

Feeling indebted to his fans from Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, Garg became involved in various charitable organizations dealing with AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 and cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. He is also president of societies including Destination (fpr autistic children), the All-Assam Cultural Organisation, and Vande.

Garg lives with his wife Garima, a fashion designer, in his Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 flat, which is a part of his music studio called Sound & Silence. Zubeen is also a prominent actor in Assamese films. His films have won national awards.

Entering the music scene

Garg considers his mother to be his first guru

Guru

A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

 and mentor. He started learning tabla

Tabla

The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...

 from Guru Robin Banarjee, and then continued learning Assamese

Assamese language

Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

 folk music from Guru Romoni Rai. He attended Jagannath Barooah College

Jagannath Barooah College

Jagannath Barooah College is located in Jorhat, Assam, India. It was founded in 1930 and was accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council , India in 2003....

 in Jorhat

Jorhat

Jorhat is a city of Assam in India. Jorhat was established as a new capital in the closing years of the 18th century by the declining Tunkhungia Ahom Dynasty. Jorhat, as the name signifies, was just a couple of markets . Two parallel markets namely, Chowkihat and Macharhat, lay on the eastern...

, and then moved to B. Barooah College, where he pursued Bachelor of Science. He left before completing his degree. When he received the gold medal for his western solo performance in a 1992 youth festival, he got his first taste of success and confidence as vocalist. Apart from playing dhol

Dhol

Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent and nearby regions. Its range of distribution in India and Pakistan primarily includes northern areas such as the Assam Valley, Bengal, Gujarat,...

s, dotara

Dotara

The dotara is a two or four or some times five stringed musical instrument resembling more to mandolin than a guitar...

, mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

, percussions, Garg is an accomplished keyboard player. He entered the professional music scene in 1992, releasing his first album, Anamika. This unusual album, became an instant hit in northeast India and had a strong influence on the Assamese musical landscape.

Career

Garg continues to make albums. Garg has sung more than 9000 songs in various languages including Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

, Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi

Punjabi language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

, Oriya

Oriya language

Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

, Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

, Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

, Nepali

Nepali language

Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...

, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, and Bodo

Bodo language

Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal...

. His song "Ya Ali" from the movie Gangster

Gangster (film)

Gangster is a 2006 Hindi film that premiered on 28 April. The film stars Shiney Ahuja, Emraan Hashmi and Kangna Ranaut. The plot is that of a bar girl who falls in love with two people, one a layman and the other a gangster...

became a superhit in India, the Middle East, and across South Asia. Following this success, he released an album titled Ya Ali Remix Blast. Z

Garg released a Hindi album Zindagi, in 2007, which was well-received. His most recent Assamese album is Mone Mone.

He has sung in many films in several Indian languages.

Film career: producer

Garg started his own production house in Guwahati. He acts in Assamese and Bengali/Bangla

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 films as well. In 2007 he acted in the Assamese Mon Jai which won as national award.

In 2000, Garg wrote, directed and acted in the Assamese film Tumi Mor Matho Mor. He acted, co-produced and scored music in another Assamese film Dinabandhu, for which he received a national award in 2005.

Garg has served as music director for Assamese, Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, and Bengali/Bangla films. He received the Best Music Award in 2005 for the Bangla movie Shudhu Tumi. He was the music director for Strings - Bound By Faith, a Hindi film directed by Sanjay Jha. He won the Rajat Kamal National Award in 2007 for best music in a short film.

His new Assamese/Bengali film You are Not My Julie is set to be released in October 2011.

Assamese albums

• Anamika
• Sopunor Sur
• Meghor Boron
• Zubeenor Gaan
• Mukti(added by saranga)
• Hiya mon
• Zubeenor Gaan
• Shapoon
• Xabda (Sobdo)
• Paakhi(2000)
• Snigdha Jonak
• Shishu(2002)
• Maya
• Chinaki Mon
• Akou Hiya mon
• Niribili Godhuli
• Lajuki mon
• Jantra(2004)
• Raang
• Rangdhali
• Mor Priyo Geet(remake)
• Chinaki Sur(Remake)
• Rongmaanguunu
• Mukha(2006)
• Rumal(2008)
• Abujan Mon(2010)
• Bahi(2010)
• Junaki mon
• Uroniya mon
• Unmona mon
• Ringa ringa mon
• BAHI
• GAAN
• Mone Mone

List of Hindi album

• Chandini Raat
• Yuhi Kabhi
• Sparsh
• Shradhanjali(vol-i, ii & iii)
• Nupur
• Chanda
• Zindagi
  Zindagi (2007 album)
  Zindagi is the title of Zubeen Garg's 2007 album. It features the vocal talents of Chitra, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, and Zubeen himself.-Track listing:# "Jia Lage Na"  – 4:38# "Jia Re Jia Re"  – 5:24...
  
  

Music director in Assamese films

• Barud
• Bidhata
• Daag
• Dinobondhu
• Rong
• Hiya Diya Niya
• Jeevan Nadir Duti Paar
• Jumon Sumon
• Jown Jwole Kopalot
• Prem aaru Prem
• Priya Milan
• Kanyadaan
  Kanyadaan
  Kanyadaan is an Assamese movie directed by Munin Baruah.-Story:The story is based on a joint family of a place called Bokulpur. The protagonist of the movie is the youngest son of the family who falls in love with a girl from a wealthy background of the town. He has three brothers and three...
  
  
• Mon Jai
• Nayak
• Tumi Mor Matho Mor
• Ekhan nedekha nodir Sipare

Awards

• Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) (2006)- Best playback singer (Male) for the song "Ya Ali".
• Max Stardust Awards (2007)- New Musical Sensation (Male) for the song "Ya Ali".
• Nominated for Film Fare Awards (2007)- Best Play Back Singer.
• National Award (Rajat Kamal) (2009) for Best music director (non-feature film category) for his work on film 'Echoes of Silence'(English-Khasi)

Music Direction in Hindi movies & albums

• Strings - bound by faith (14 July 2006)
• Dhanyabad-Prashant Tamang 2007 (Indian idol 3)
• As The River Flows 2011 (upcoming)

{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Songs
! Films
! Language
|-
|rowspan="3"|2011
|Soniye tu Janiye tu
|Khokababu
|Bengali
|-
|As the River Flows (Upcoming)
|Hindi
|-
|Akela Hoon Mein (Upcoming)
|Umang
|Hindi
|-
|Mon toke Dilam
|Romeo (2011)
|Bengali
|-
|
|Jaana Hai
|Dum Maaro Dum
|Hindi
|-
|rowspan="5"|2010
| Waqt Bada Baimaan O Rabba

Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha
| Musaa
| Hindi
|-
| Ab Mujhko Jeena
| Aashayein
| Hindi
|-
| Wazood Ki Talash
| Kuchh Kariye
| Hindi
|-
| Maula Mere Maula Mere
| Aakhri Descision
| Hindi
|-
| Maula
| Mission 11 July
| Hindi
|-
|rowspan="3"|2009
| Shola Shola
| London Dreams
| Hindi
|-
| Bansuri
| Yeh Mera India
| Hindi
|-
| Dil main junoon hai
| Fastforward
| Hindi
|-
|rowspan="5"|2008
| Rab Ka Banda
| Hello
| Hindi
|-
| Yar Mere Dildara
| Mission Istanbul
| Hindi
|-
|Mera Halaat Ye & Tu Jaan Se Pyara (RMX Also)
|Deshdrohi
|Hindi
|-
|Almadad Chere Khuda Mera Yaar
|Hastey Hastey
|Hindi
|-
|Kee Kasoor
|Kaise Kahein featuring Neha Jhulka
|Hindi
|-
|rowspan="17"|2007
|Teri Tamanna
Teri Tamanna (Club Mix by Akbar Sami)
TeriTamanna (Euro Mix Goldeyy)
|The Train
|Hindi
|-
|Dheere Dheere
Dheere Dheere Remix
|Bombay to Bangkok
|Hindi
|-
|Dard E Dil
|Good Boy, Bad Boy
|Hindi
|-
|Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (JBJ)
|Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
|Hindi
|-
|Woh Bheege Pal
|Manorama Six Feet Under
|Hindi
|-
|Dilruba
Dilruba (Remix)
|Namastey London

Namastey London

Namastey London is a 2007 Bollywood film. The romantic comedy film is directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and stars Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif. It also stars Rishi Kapoor, Upen Patel and Clive Standen in supporting roles. Riteish Deshmukh has a cameo role in the film...

|Hindi
|-
|Shael Sutha Ke Ankhon
|My Friend Ganesha
|Hindi
|-
|Tum Ho
|Raqeeb
|Hindi
|-
|Jag Laal Laal Laal Laal (Part 2)
Jag Laal Laal Laal Laal (Part 3)
|Big Brother (film)|Big Brother
|Hindi
|-
|Jeena Kya Tere Bina
Jeena Kya Tere Bina (Remix)
|Kya Love Story Hai
|Hindi
|-
|Hum Khushi Ki Chah Mein
Hum Khushi Ki Chah Mein (Rock Mix)
|Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee
|Hindi
|-
|Ek Din Teri (Remix)
|Naqaab
|Hindi
|-
|Hoga Hoga Khuda Gawah
|Nehlle Pe Dehlla
|Hindi
|-
|Zindagi Aa Gayi
|Victoria No. 203
|Hindi
|-
|Let's Enjoy
|Bombay to Goa
|Hindi
|-
|Ommomme Heego
|Hudugaata
|Kannada
|-
|Yele Yelele
Yele Yelele
|Takkari
|Telugu
|-
|rowspan="6"|2006
|Ya Ali
|Gangster

Gangster (film)

Gangster is a 2006 Hindi film that premiered on 28 April. The film stars Shiney Ahuja, Emraan Hashmi and Kangna Ranaut. The plot is that of a bar girl who falls in love with two people, one a layman and the other a gangster...

|Hindi
|-
|Subah Subah
|I See You
|Hindi
|-
|Payal Ki Chham Chham
|Brides Wanted
|Hindi
|-
|Ishq
Mantra (om)
Piya Milan Ko Jaana
RamoRamo
Rimjhim

|Strings - Bound By Faith
|Hindi
|-
|Rabbi
Rabbi (Remix)
|Zindaggi Rocks

Zindaggi Rocks

Zindaggi Rocks is a 2006 Bollywood film, directed by Tanuja Chandra and produced by Anurradha Prasad. It is about the love story between a famous singer, Kriya, played by Sushmita Sen and a doctor, played by Shiney Ahuja....

|Hindi
|-
|Janne Kya Janeman
|Pyaar Ke Side Effects

Pyaar Ke Side Effects

Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a Bollywood movie released in September 2006. It was produced under the banner of Pritish Nandy communications and was written and directed by first time director Saket Chaudhary. Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat played the lead cast. The film is a romantic comedy, and...

|Hindi
|-
|rowspan="5"|2004
|Jugnu Ki Payal
|Aan: Men at Work
|Hindi
|-
|Ishq Ishq Mein
Rabba
|Agnipankh
|Hindi
|-
|Ek Hasina Thi (Remix)
|Ek Hasina Thi
|Hindi
|-
|Rama Re (The Boys Are Back Mix)
|Musafir
|Hindi
|-
|Aane Wala Pal
Aane Wala Pal - 2nd Version
|Plan
|Hindi
|-
|rowspan="2"|2003
|Dildara
|Chupke Se
|Hindi
|-
|Sapne Saare
|Mudda - The Issue
|Hindi
|-
|rowspan="3"|2002
|Rama Re
Socha Nahin Tha
|Kaante
|Hindi
|-
|Rumal
|Maya Namara
|Nepali
|-
|Sandhya
|Sandhya
|Hindi
|-
|2000
|Mere Watan
|Fiza
|Hindi
|-
|1995
|Beta Apni Maa Se
|Gaddar
|Hindi
|)

Zubeen Garg's songs

• Zubeen Garg - Life, Music, Movies