Sawan Dutta

Sawan Dutta is an Indian music director, composer, songwriter, record producer, vocalist and Vlogger based in Bengaluru, India. She is best known for her original songs on her video song blog, The Metronome.[1]

Early life and education

Dutta was born in New Delhi, India. She had an early interest in music and learned to play the harmonium at the age of three. During her early teenage years, she taught herself to play the Hawaiian Guitar and auditioned successfully to be a regular paid performer at the All-India Radio company.[2] After high school, Dutta joined the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, India to train as an architect. During her college years at the School of Planning and Architecture, she was a member of the musical band The Archetypes. She also joined the pioneering fusion rock band Indian Ocean as a keyboardist and backup vocalist (and the only woman in the band ever) during her college years.[3]

Career

Television

Dutta has created music for TV shows, such as the soundtracks for the Indian adaptations of the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" called "Kaun Banega Crorepati"[4] in Hindi and "Ningalkkum Aakaar Kodeeswaran" in Malayalam. Some of her other popular work on TV includes themes for Mastermind India, Bhanwar, India's Child Genius, The History of Whatever and the National Award-winning cartoon series Jungle Tales.

Film

Dutta has composed songs for Bollywood films including Chai Pani (2004).[5]

Other

Dutta has also worked on several other music albums, including her own solo debut album Lady Chatterjee[6][7] with the music label Saregama[8] (2005). She was a music producer for other performing artists, including the Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan[9] and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan,[10] the flute player Ajay Prasanna, and the vocalist Vidya Shah.

Dutta has created soundtracks for documentary films such as The Underground Inferno for the National Geographic Channel and Autumn in the Himalayas for the Public Broadcasting Service Trust.[11]

She has also created advertisement jingles and soundtracks for brands like the Indian car manufacturer Maruti, KFC, UNICEF and others.

Awards

Dutta was awarded the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards for her soundtrack for the puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee's theatrical production, Transpositions[12][13] in 2008.

The Metronome

Dutta is known for her videos on her YouTube channel and website - The Metronome[14][15][16] in which she writes, composes and sings original songs on a number of subjects. Her recipe song series in which she demonstrates various recipes from the Bengal region has attracted a large following across the globe.[17] Dutta has often collaborated with different advertising brands that sponsor her vlog posts. Chief among these are Mahindra Agri Ltd,[18] Fortune Foods Ltd, and the restaurant chain Oh! Calcutta.[19] Dutta writes, composes and sings almost all her vlog posts herself with help from her husband C. B. Arun Kumar who is a film-maker. The music for her songs covers various genres including pop, jazz, Western and Indian classical and electronica. Some of her most popular vlog posts include An Ode to Boroline, Macher Jhol,[20][21] Kosha Mangsho etc.[22]

References
  1. "Miss Metronome". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  2. "Sawan Dutta – #TellMeYourStory". tellmeyourstory.in. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  3. Sanyal, Amitava (2013-09-14). "Parting of the Ocean". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  4. "Amitabh Bachchan's Kaun Banega Crorepati raises the 'crore' bar". The Indian Express. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  5. "Welcome to Chai pani etc". www.chaipanietc.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  6. "Meet Lady Chatterjee". The Hindu. 2006-05-13. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  7. "The Telegraph - Calcutta: Frontpage". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2006. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  8. "Listen to Sawan Dutta songs online, Sawan Dutta songs MP3 download". Saregama. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  9. Raghupati Raghav Rajaram Instrumental, 1965-08-14, retrieved 2018-01-23
  10. "Details - India Instruments". www.india-instruments.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  11. PSBT India (2015-01-02), AUTUMN IN THE HIMALAYAS, retrieved 2018-01-23
  12. "Transposition - Metawards". Metawards. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  13. "Transposition - Confluence - Festival of India in Australia". Confluence - Festival of India in Australia. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  14. "Music is my religion: Sawan Dutta". Hindustan Times. 2006-11-16. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  15. "'It's an exaggerated take on some universal Bengali traits'". The Indian Express. 2016-07-28. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  16. "Google Translate". translate.google.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  17. "Forget Sardar jokes! Indian stereotypes are making jokes on themselves #LolOnUs". Hindustan Times. 2017-03-18. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  18. "Mahindra's NuPro stirs up culinary delights in association with the inimitable Sawan Dutta". www.mahindra.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  19. "20:20 at Oh! Calcutta". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  20. "This Ballad Of Macher Jhol Will Awaken Your Inner Chef". Huffington Post-India. 2016-07-25. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  21. "How about listening to a pretty woman sing the recipe of macher jhol as you make it?". India Today. 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  22. "Watch a Bengali singer poke fun at Macher Jhol, Boroline and monkey caps". Hindustan Times. 2016-07-29. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  • The Metronome on YouTube
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