O n February 18, Calcutta witnessed an amazing musical moment at the Arijit Singh live concert at Aquatica when our Bengali rock icon Rupam Islam joined him and sang Ekla ghar. The audience went crazy with applause and showered a lot of adoration upon the duo. It raised a desire to watch them work together and do a musical collab. The two met the next day. Talks have already started about two projects they’ve decided to work on together. Rupam Islam shares the details in a chat with The Telegraph.
Kolkata loved how you and Arijit Singh surprised everyone with an impromptu performance on February 18. What are your thoughts on that and how was the experience?
It was surprising for the audience of course, but it was a surprise for both Arijit and me as well. I was sceptical about whether I could reach the venue on time because of the heavy traffic that day. A police officer spotted me and let my car go. I finally reached and it was then that Arijit acknowledged me and announced that I’m attending his show. It was sweet of him to mention that he spent his youth attending my concerts and it was a special moment for him that I am attending his.
When he started his medley of Bengali songs, suddenly he sang Aaro ekbar, it felt special and I joined him from my seat. When he went on to sing Ekla ghar, the security people led me in front of him. Spotting me, he came down and handed the mic to me. I’ll thank nature that I managed to sing it without any monitors or speakers pointed towards me, so technically it was kind of very hard to pull it off in proper pitch. But somehow I managed to sing. I didn’t realise that it would appeal to the audience so much and that they’d like Arijit and my duo and shower us with so much adoration. Both of us didn’t realise that we’d get so much love. We were absolutely smitten and surprised.
Recently you took to Instagram and posted a lovely Reel of the two of you jamming at your place. So was it a trailer for a project you’ll work on together? Are you working on songs or albums?
Arijit came over to my place the very next day of the concert, but he had a cracked voice from the strain of the previous day’s show that went on for four hours. It just accentuated the injury in his voice that happened before. It’s been long that we both planned to visit each other’s place and I already have before. I had visited Jiyaganj (Murshidabad) for a show when Kakima (Arijit’s mother) asked me to visit his place. We’re in regular touch, he listens to my songs and often messages me about them. It’s often a quip between us, that our songs are always playing at each other’s houses... mine at Arijit’s and his at mine. So this exchange is always there. Yes, we’ve spoken to each other about collaborating and doing a project together. However, it was just over WhatsApp that we planned such things. Until now, when we actually witnessed how much the audience loved our music. We both agreed to move ahead with this plan and we’re about to work on two projects together.
Could you give us a sneak peek into the kind of topics you discussed?
We spoke about a lot of things like online music shows during the pandemic, practice sessions and some fun exchange on music (mostly technical stuff). He and I play the same guitar called Baby Martin so we discussed that too. I asked why is the word ‘Jhora’ written on his guitar. He said that he loves to give each of his guitars a particular name. Jhora is the name of the Baby Martin he’s got.
Could you tell us a little about when you first met Arijit, and how you came to know him?
The first song that I heard of Arijit was from the movie Barfi. I shared that with him and he shared his memories of his youth listening to my songs. We’ve always met at concerts, like on February 18 at Aquatica... and once I had performed in Mumbai, and he paid a visit wearing a hoodie so that people wouldn’t recognise him.
But this was the first time that we sat together and had a long conversation in person. I was always curious about the unique texture of his voice after listening to him in Barfi. I had mentioned this to my wife Rupsha, that he’ll be a huge name and now the whole world has crowned him for his music. He called Rupsha when I was at Jiyaganj for some of his friends to attend the concert and then he shared his love and respect for me and my music. It was nice to know that one of my audience has become such a huge singing sensation and is a fellow music maker. We exchanged numbers after that and always kept in touch. However, we both couldn’t find a common time for a rendezvous. Maybe destiny had a different plan, that we finally got to meet for a good chat at my place. It’s a happy, healthy and very sweet relationship that we share mutually.
What makes Arijit so special?
Arijit is very humble and absolutely connected to his roots. I love that about him. I’m someone who tries to do the same and hence I like that about him even more.
What’s your fave Arijit Singh song?
I love lots of his songs and choosing one would be difficult. But I’d like to make a special mention of the Ae dil hai mushkil title track and Safar and Hawaein from the movie Jab Harry Met Sejal.