Indian guitarist, composer and producer John Paul is best known for sharing the stage with some of the country's most popular musicians, including Arijit Singh, Raghu Dixit, Sonu Nigam and Amit Trivedi. Now, the Kolkata-born artiste is stepping into his own spotlight with Kalpana, his debut album inspired by and named after his late mother.
Speaking to My Kolkata after a recent performance in Kolkata, John described Kalpana as the culmination of nearly nine years of work.
“This is my debut album, and I've been working on this for nine years. The whole album isn't out yet. Exactly half of it has been released, and there are four more songs that are yet to be released,” he said.
John Paul accompanied by Sambit Chatterjee (drums), Rahul Putai (bass), Bihu Mukherjee (percussion), Clement Rooney (keys), and Subhadeep Das (vocals) performed at Five Mad Men on June 9
The independent album is a collection of global genres like Indian fusion, jazz, pop, rock and electronic music. It also features a host of acclaimed musicians in collaboration, including Shankar Mahadevan, Raghu Dixit, Arijit Singh and internationally renowned drummer Thomas Lang.
“It is a diverse cross-cultural amalgamation of music and influences that I have acquired through my career,” John said.
John said the event in Kolkata was designed as a cinematic presentation of the album rather than a conventional gig.
“Many people came to support me. It drew support from Kolkata musicians and artistes including Jisshu Sengupta, Indraadip Dasgupta, Somlata Acharyya Chowdhury, Subhen Chatterjee, Silajit Majumder and Anjan Dutt.”
Despite performing across India and abroad, the musician remains closely connected to Kolkata. Raised in Sodepur in North 24 Parganas, he credits Bengal’s culture and folk traditions for forming his musical sensibilities.
“I have always been a Kolkata boy. Kolkata has been a great influence on my music as well, because I am extremely fascinated by the culture of Bengal, the sound of Bengal and its folk music,” he said.
John Paul shredding at Five Mad Men
One of the tracks on Kalpana draws direct inspiration from Paul’s childhood memories. “The second song has been completely based on a dhaak pattern. I grew up in a house where we had a puja every Friday, and there would be dhakis coming in. So I grew up with the local music,” he recalled.
The album’s title carries emotional significance as it is named after his mother. The name also means imagination.
“Kalpana, which is the name of the album, is dedicated to my late mother. The idea of Kalpana is imagination. The music that is in the album is completely unburdened by any pressure. It's exactly what comes to my mind,” he said.
Following a successful hometown performance on June 9, John is now looking ahead to an India tour and, eventually, international stages.
“I was known for accompanying other musicians on stage. Now I want to show what I am capable of individually. My immediate target would be to do an India tour with this. Then we will try to take this band across borders and play at different festivals. I want to show the richness of my culture from my country, fused with other forms of music,” he signed off.