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Shonai

Contemporary jazz pianist, composer, educator.

About Me

The ever-evolving Shonai enjoys his musical life as a performer, educator, composer and arranger. Born in a musicians' family in Kolkata Shonai had got introduced to various genre of music in his childhood time. He started his training with learning Tabla and then moved to Piano in 1996. He has done Grade 6 in Classical Music in Piano from Associated Board of Royal School of Music and Grade 8 in Jazz Piano from London College of Music. Shonai studied Jazz till the advanced level under the guidance of two world class Jazz musicians Mr. Andrew Gracias and Mr. Carlton Kitto.

In his 20 years of performance life he has worked in every possible situations from solo to duet and from bands like trio, quartet and Quintet to Big Bands. Shonai being predominantly a contemporary and jazz Pianist has worked with Jazz stalwarts like Mr.Carlton Kitto, Mr.Andrew Gracias, Mr.Lewis Hilt, Mr.Marcus Dengate ( who has performed with the great Dizzy Gillespie, Scott Hamilton and many more ), Mr. Clive Hughes, Gianni Denitto, Mr. Monojit Dutta, Nicholas Teberias, Michael Kuttner to name a few.

His performance life started with joining All India Radio as a junior artist in 1997. Where later he became a graded artist and has been continuing recording with many jazz artists along with his solo piano recitals. In 2005 he joined Oberoi Grand Hotel as a solo Pianist. His performance career continued as solo, duets and with bands in many prestigious venues like The Oberoi Grand, The Park, ITC Sonar, The Park Plaza etc. in Kolkata. He has also played extensively throughout India in festivals like GIANTS OF JAZZ ( Delhi, Gurgaon ), JAZZMATAZZ ( Mumbai , Pune), JAZZMANDU ( Nepal ), Jam Steady BIG SUNDAY ( Kolkata ), Kolkata Jazz Fest ( Kolkata ), Darjeeling Carnival, Lent Festival ( Maribor ), Festjazza ( Croatia ) and venues like Opus ( Bangalore ), The Humming Tree ( Bangalore ), Blue Frog, The Piano Man ( Delhi ), Trident ( Rajasthan ), NCPA Tata Theatre ( Mumbai ), Anti Social ( Mumbai ). Apart from these he has also played several places in Northeast India and beyond, like Manipur, Assam, Shillong, Taj Tashi ( Bhutan ) and Dhaka Club ( Bangladesh ), No Black Tie ( Malaysia ), Blue Note ( Poland ), B Flat ( Berlin ), which helped him to hone his skills and experiences.

Being a versatile musician Shonai had been a part of several bands with different genre of music like Blue Mist ( pop ), Orient Express ( Latin ), Carlton Kitto Jazz Ensemble ( Jazz ), Fast Forward ( Funk-Jazz ), Big Family ( Blues ), Bramhakhyapa ( Bawl Jazz fusion ), ABHIND ( avant guard ) etc. Apart from these bands he works with many other bands and artists as a session musician. Currently Shonai is a part of two bands, Bodhisatya Trio ( Experimental jazz rock fusion ) and his own set up called The Shonai Collective ( funk and jazz ). Where he collaborates with artists from different places and tour the country. With this Collective he mostly does his own compositions and apart from the originals he covers a few popular tunes rearranged in his unique way.

As a music educator he has worked in several academic and music schools in Kolkata, Delhi and in prestigious Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory in Nepal. Currently he is a Piano faculty of One World College of Music, Delhi.

My Jazz Story

I love jazz because...it has got freedom to express your stories anyway. I was first exposed to jazz...in the year of 2000 I met [musician name]...Carlton Kitto, Jon Faddis, Steve Turre, Clieve Huges, Chick Corea, Gianni Denitto, Reiner Pusch, Marcus Dengate. The first jazz record I bought was...Kind of Blue My advice to new listeners... Practice to listen all the instruments individually.

My House Concert Story

Jazz House concert is always fun as only jazz lovers come to listen there. It's always very cozy. Don't have to put the master volume up. Mostly acoustically audible.