Sanjay Naskar is passionate about playing the saxophone. Picture by Gopal Senapati

 

The romantic sound of the saxophone reverberates in the locality at Naskarpara Lane when Sanjay Naskar practises his notes at some time in the day. He must practise for at least 10 minutes daily in order to keep the tissues of his lips smooth enough to produce the right tunes from the saxophone. Regular viewers of Zee Bangla Sa Re Ga Ma Pa must have noticed this musician play the brass instrument along with the participants. Sanjay, who is better known as Bhuto, not only in his neighbourhood but also in the music industry, has spent the past 15 years of his life in the music industry playing the saxophone. For him, it is not just a profession, but a passion that he has kept alive in every way possible.

Taking up the saxophone as a profession was never Sanjay’s plan when he was a boy. He was fascinated with the instrument and wanted to learn to play it. He initially learnt to play the flute from Dilip Chatterjee and Pankaj Banerjee in Howrah after which he went to learn the saxophone from Anup Chatterjee in Howrah. “I was a student of Howrah Vivekananda Institution and my initial fascination with the saxophone started from school. I started learning the saxophone after which I was invited to play for a Hindi band while I was still in school,” said Sanjay.

His career as a musician kicked off from this point as he started playing as an accompanist to singers in music albums. After the initial training in the instrument, Sanjay took up learning on his own. He would approach senior musicians to guide him and used some rare notation books. “I was advised to follow those books carefully and if I could play each of the pieces given there, I would master the instrument,” said Sanjay. The saxophone, although a western instrument, has been widely used in Bollywood as well as Tollywood songs. “Rahul Dev Burman and Jatin-Lalit had used it a lot in their compositions. There are several old Bengali songs where one will find the predominant sound of the saxophone. However, the instrument is gradually becoming obsolete as composers use less of it in Hindi and Bengali songs these days,” said Sanjay.

He entered the music industry with the help of music directors like Abhijit Bandopadhyay and Debjit Roy. Sanjay is a member of Calcutta Cine Musicians. He started playing for background scores in Bengali soaps and serials like Apur Kotha and Icchedana in ETV Bangla, Ogo Badhu Sundari in Star Jalsa and others. He has also played in background scores of films, most of which have not made it big in the box office. He has been playing in every season of Zee Bangla Sa Re Ga Ma Pa from 2010 onwards. He has also played for E To Noy Sudhu Gaan on Tara TV.

Apart from TV shows and music albums, Sanjay has also played at hotels and at programmes. In the course of time, he has accompanied many well-known singers in stage shows like Sonu Nigam, Kumar Sanu, Shreya Ghoshal, Sadhana Sargam, KK, Shaan and others.

“There was a time when all musicians, including myself, went through a rough phase. When the decibel limit of 65 decibels was imposed, there was a sudden fall of shows and live programmes and musicians suffered because of this. I also went through a bad phase. However, things changed after that,” said Sanjay.

Although he has made a name in the music industry, Sanjay feels he has still to learn more about the saxophone. “There are limitations of learning saxophone because knowledge is limited in Calcutta. Those who play the saxophone cannot progress after a certain point because they do not know what is the scope of the instrument. I am sure there are senior teachers in Mumbai but people like us cannot afford to go to Mumbai to learn,” said Sanjay. There are not many players of the instrument as well. “It is not so popular among the young generation of musicians. However, there are some band musicians, who come to learn from me,” said Sanjay. Apart from playing, Sanjay likes to collect different types of saxophones. His room is stacked with alto, tenor and soprano saxophones and he does not let anyone in his family handle these. “They are my companions and I like to spend time with them during my leisure hours,” said Sanjay.

More about Sanjay

Age: December 6, 1971
Born in: Howrah
Education: HS
Family: Parents, wife, son, daughter, a dog and a parrot
Loves: Keeping pets
Hates: Criticism

 

Dalia Mukherjee