If you are a poet or a musician, make your way to Bocca Cafe in Bhubaneswar for Bell Jar, the event that could give wings to your dreams. Those whose original compositions and works charm the judges get to record it free-of-cost. The opportunity is being presented to you by Writer's Order, Maestro Recording Studio, Bhubaneswar Poetry Club and Debasish 'Bunny' Mohanty. "There are a lot of artists in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack who are good, but don't really have a platform, they just upload their videos on Instagram and Facebook. We want to provide them that platform," says Debasish.
The 21-year-old dropped out of academics in 2015 to pursue music. He studied Hindustani Classical vocals under Bibhudutta Nayak and was introduced to Western classical when he joined the rock band The Other Brothers. "I discovered the music of Bob Marley, Green Day and so much more and I started practising western vocals on my own," says Debasish. The rounds of college fests started with IIIT Bhubaneswar in 2017 and hasn't really stopped since then. He has participated in college fests of KIIT, XIMB, CET College and so on and charmed everyone with his voice. He also won prizes along with accolades. A chance message on Facebook from director Raja Das enabled him to step into the Odia film industry. Though the song was composed by him, Chorabali, the movie itself was shelved last year. "It was when I was a part of the band that I learnt composing," says the youngster who is currently pursuing his BA in Odia from Utkal University to be a better writer. But what Debasish is struggling with right now is the demand of certain producers in the industry. "They expect the composed song within a day and that's practically impossible," says the youngster from Berhampur.
This setback was quickly overcome by Debasish as he came out with a single Eka Eka with Googly Odisha in Association With FMD Films and another one To Thu Alaga, in collaboration with Maestro Recording Studio, will be out in October. "I intend to move to Bengaluru or Mumbai to learn opera western vocals, which I am currently extremely fascinated with," he says.
Favourite two
Debasish's favourite musicians are:
Bob Marley: Jamaican singer-songwriter was a pioneer in more ways than one
Chris Daughtry: This American musician is the lead singer of the band Daughtry
