Sanjeeta Bhattacharya: My music has a lot of influences, so I don’t want to restrict it by defining it

She had a sore throat, but that didn’t matter. Delhi-based independent musician Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, whose songs like I Will Wait has won her fans across the country, performed in Kochi recently for the first time to a packed audience. “I got some magical ayurvedic powder from one of the organisers and it helped so well that my throat didn’t give too much trouble,” the 23-year-old said post the show, in which she even sang some songs she wrote just last week.“It was nerve wracking, but worth it,” admits Sanjeeta.
She is often termed an up-and-coming jazz musician, but Sanjeeta, who graduated from Berklee College of Music in the US, doesn’t like to tag her music to any genre. “I have roots in Indian classical Hindustani music. In school, I have also done RnB, pop, choir music and so on. After school, I explored many more genres like flamenco, Balkan, Latin American music etc and all of these reflect the music I make,” she says.
The musician says that once she was back after graduation and started doing gigs, she was immediately branded a jazz musician. However, when she started making her own music, it was different. “It has not been jazz oriented at all, and this is why I don’t want to label it,” says the singer, whose father Sanjay Bhattacharya is an artist.
Sanjeeta was born to Bengali parents in Delhi, where she was brought up and started her lessons both in kathak dance and music at the same time. “I was into both in my early years. However, when it was the time to pick a college, I had to either stay back in Delhi and train with my kathak guru or join Berklee. There was no way I could do both. So, I decided to go for music,” she recalls.
However, the sore throat tried to play villain even when she was auditioning for her college. “It was worse than what I have now,” she says, laughing. “It was in December 2012 and I was in Class 12. I was battling a three-month-old sore throat around the time and I had tried everything from allopathic and homeopathic medicines to Baba Ramdev. Nothing was working. Then I flew to Mumbai for the audition. The weather was different from that in Delhi, and much more humid and warm. That actually made it even worse. The day of the audition I couldn’t even speak, I was croaking. But I told them, ‘This is not how I sound live, but today unfortunately I do’.” Sanjeeta sang anyway, and post the audition, decided that there is no way they will admit her. “I started looking for colleges under Delhi University,” she says.
However, Sanjeeta didn’t know that a surprise was in store. “They considered my situation and I miraculously got in. That too with a scholarship!”
What followed were days soaked in music. “I always say that for a musician to perform, you don’t have to go to a college. Some of the most legendary musicians haven’t learnt it formally. But obviously, the fact that I did go there, has helped me gain a huge exposure to world music. For four years, 24/7, I was surrounded by musicians and saw some of the legendary musicians like A R Rahman, Harvey Hancock and John Mayer, perform. All day you are talking about music, listening to it and going to concerts. Obviously, it had a huge impact on my life, even though I didn’t realise it,” she says.
Sanjeeta also got to interact with A R Rahman at her college as she performed as part of a performance that paid tribute to the musician when he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the institution. “We performed many of his songs and the video even went viral in India! Rahman sir, though quite a reserved person, also gave us some insights into how to do arrangements and even performed with us on the Bombay soundtrack,” she recalls.
Sanjeeta also has a band, named Voicestra, which she formed a year ago with friends whom she met in a music college in Gurgaon. “We wanted to bring some Balkan music to India, and as far I know, no one had attempted it till then. Just as in the case of folk music, Balkan folk songs have many similarities with Indian music and I was also in the Balkan choir in college.”
They received tremendously positive response and played quite a few shows but have been on a hiatus as a few band members were still in college. “They had to finish it first and one of the members is still in college to finish the degree,” she says. Kaushik Manikandan, who is part of Voicestra, also performed with her in Kochi.
Sanjeeta, who has so far been exploring and playing music in multiple setups, bands and genres, now wants to focus on making her own music. “I was also playing in jazz festivals across India and abroad. I also want to be part of music festivals like NH7 Weekender, and get my own music going, and introduce it to people,” she says, adding that she is hoping to release her album by March 2019.