Zubeen Garg (born Zubeen Borthakur; 18 November 1972) is an Indian singer, music director, composer, lyricist, music producer, actor, film director, film producer, script writer and philanthropist. He primarily works for and sings in the Assamese,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language film and music industries, but has sung in many other languages and

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...

s, including Bishnupriya Manipuri, Boro,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, Goalpariya,

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, Karbi,

Khasi Khasi may refer to: * Khasi people, an ethnic group of Meghalaya, India * Khasi language, a major Austroasiatic language spoken in Meghalaya, India * Khāṣi language, an Indo-Aryan language of Jammu and Kashmir, India See also * Khasi Hills * ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

, Marathi, Mising,

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

Sindhi Sindhi may refer to: *something from, or related to Sindh, a province of Pakistan * Sindhi people, an ethnic group from the Sindh region * Sindhi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them People with the name * Sarkash Sindhi (1940–2012 ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

, Tiwa. He is also an instrumentalist and plays 12 instruments including Ananda Lohori,

dhol Dhol (IPA: ) can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan primarily includes nort ...

dotara The ''dotara'' (or ''dotar'') Persian ( bn, দোতারা, as, দোতাৰা, literally, 'Of or having two strings') is a two, four, or sometimes five- stringed musical instrument, originating from Iran and Central Asia. It is commo ...

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

and various

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

s. He is Assam's highest-paid singer. In 2011, Zubeen Garg was honoured as a guest artist of the year by the Assam Convention, at Oakbrook in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Early life

Garg was born in a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

family at Tura, Meghalaya to Mohini Mohon Borthakur and Late Ily Borthakur. He was named after the music composer

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the fou ...

and used his

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra ...

'''Garg as his surname. His father Mohini Borthakur was a Magistrate, and is a lyricist and a poet under the name ''Kapil Thakur'' and his mother Late Ily Borthakur was a singer. Garg's younger sister Jonkey Borthakur was an actress and singer who died in a car accident in February 2002 in

Sonitpur district Sonitpur district ron: ˌsə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊə or ˌʃə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊəis an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezpur. Etymology The name of the is derived from a mythological story f ...

while they were going to perform stage show along with her co-artists. He had released the album ''Xixhu'' in 2002, in the memory of Jonkey Borthakur. His another sister is Dr. Palme Borthakur. Garg pursued a degree in

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in B. Borooah College but dropped out to concentrate in his singing career. Garg married Garima Saikia, a

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...

from

Golaghat Golaghat ( ''Gʊlaɡʱat'' ) one of the largest subdivisions of the Indian state of Assam, later elevated to the position of a full–fledged district headquarter on 5 October 1987, is a city and a municipality and the seat of administrative ...

, Assam on 4 February 2002.

Starting of musical life

Garg started to sing from the age of three. His first guru was his mother from where he learnt to sing and then he learnt tabla from Pandit Robin Banerjee for 11 years. Guru Ramani Rai acquainted him with Assamese folk. Garg was composing songs from his school days and one of the song from his first album Anamika "Gaane ki Aane" was composed by him at the age of 13.

Career

Beginning of singing career (1992-1995)

Garg got his confidence to become a professional singer when he got gold medal for his western solo performance in youth festival held in 1992. And after this he entered into professional music with his debut Assamese album ''Anamika'', which was released in 1992. His first composed song from this album was ''"Gaane Ki Aane"'' which he composed at the age of 13. Garg first recorded songs for album were ''"Tumi Junu Pariba Hun"'' and ''"Tumi Junaki Hubakh"'' for the album ''Ritu.'' He later released many other albums such as ''Xapunor Xur (1992), Junaki Mon (1993), Maya (1994)'', ''Asha (1995)'', ''Ujan Piriti'' (1995), etc.

Bollywood singing career (1995-present)

In the mid 1995, Garg moved to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

to work in the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

music industry where he debut his first Indipop solo album ''Chandni Raat''. Later, he recorded few Hindi albums and remix songs like ''Chanda (1996), Shradhaanjali vol: 1,2,3 (1996-97), Jalwa (1998),'' ''Yuhi Kabhi (1998)'', ''Jadoo (1999), Sparsh (2000), etc.'' He got to sing for different films like '' Gaddaar (1995), Dil Se (1998)'', '' Doli Saja Ke Rakhna (1998)'', '' Fiza (2000)'', '' Kaante (2002)''. In 2003, he sung "Sapne Saare" and "khwabon Ki" from the movie '' Mudda-The Issue'', "Mango Agar Dil Se Toh Khuda" from the movie ''

Chupke Se ''Chupke Se'' ( en, Secretly), is a 2003 Bollywood Romantic comedy film, directed by Shona Urvashi. It stars Zulfi Syed, Masumeh Makhija, Rati Agnihotri, Tinnu Anand, Om Puri, Reema Lagoo and Dilip Prabhawalkar. The film's soundtrack was co ...

'', "Holi Re" from the movie ''Mumbai se Aiya Mera Dost'' and "Jo Pyar tumne" from the movie ''Jaal:The trap''. Apart from singing in his Bollywood and Assamese industries, he debuted in Bengali music industry in 2003 where he sung two songs in the movie ''Mon''. In the next year he sung three songs in the movie '' Shudhu Tumi'' and also was the music director in the film. In 2005 he sung "''O bondhure"'' and "Lagena Bhalo" in the film ''

Premi ''Premi'' ( bn, প্রেমী, translated as "Lover") is a Bengali movie released in 2004. Directed by Rabi Kinagi, the movie featured Jeet, Jisshu Sengupta and Chandana Sharma. This was Chandana Sharma's debut movie This movie is also th ...

''. In 2008 he recorded songs like "Mon mane Na" from" the movie ''Mon Mane Na'' , "Piya re Piya re" from the movie '' Chirodini Tumi je Amaar'', and "Mon jete chay shudhu" from the movie ''

Love story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

''. He got the biggest break in Bollywood from the movie ''

Gangster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

'' where he sang the song ''"Ya ali"''. The song brought him the best playback singer Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) in 2006. His next Hindi album '' Zindagi'' was released in 2007.

Social work

Garg runs a charity, the Kalaguru Artiste Foundation, which donates money for various causes. He urged people to donate clothes, medicines and contributions when devastating floods hit Assam. He took on the issue over corruption in APSC recruitment in his movie

Kanchanjangha ''Kanchanjangha: Rise'' is a 2019 Indian Assamese-language action drama film directed by Zubeen Garg and produced by Zubeen Garg and Garima Saikia Garg under the banner of "Eye Creation Productions". The film features Zubeen Garg in lead ro ...

. He is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

fan and has played matches to collect funds for flood affected people. Garg was one of the main non-political figure of the Anti-CAA protest in Assam.

Discography

As a music director

Films

Garg won the " Best Music Direction" for the film ''Echoes Of Silence'' in the

55th National Film Awards The 55th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2007. Three different committee ...

. He was nominated for the " Best Music Direction" for the film ''Dinabandhu'' in the

52nd National Film Awards The 52nd National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 2004. The selection process of ...

Television

Theater

As a composer and lyricist

As an actor

Films

Garg played the lead role in ''

Mon Jaai ''Mon Jaai'' (English: I feel like) is a 2008 Assamese language drama film directed by Moirangthem Maniram. The film is about the life of four unemployed educated youths from lower-middle-class families of Tinsukia, Assam who are entangled by t ...

'', for which he was nominated for the "

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

" in the 56th National Film Awards. He was nominated for the " Best Supporting Actor" for the film ''Dinabandhu'' in the

Television

As a director

Films

Theater

As a producer, script writer and poet

Producer

Script writer

As a poet

He got Seuji-Seuji award for his poetry book in 2017.

As a judge

Awards and honours

Zubeen Garg has received the following recognitions for his successful work in the industry.

Collaboration with musician and lyricist

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garg, Zubeen 1972 births Living people Assamese playback singers Assamese-language singers Bengali playback singers Bengali-language singers Bollywood playback singers 21st-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian singers Indian pop singers Indian male singer-songwriters Indian male pop singers Indian male playback singers Indian rock singers Indian folk-pop singers Indian male composers People from Jorhat district Performers of Hindu music Singers from Assam Singers from Guwahati Singers from Meghalaya Assamese-language film directors Indian film score composers Assamese actors 21st-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian composers Film directors from Assam People from Meghalaya People from Tura, Meghalaya People from Guwahati Indian male film score composers Assamese film score composers Assamese-language lyricists