Soumik Datta

Soumik Datta (born January 1984) is a Bengali-born British Indian musician and composer, who specialises in the sarod.^[1] He was born in Mumbai and brought up in London.^[2] His brother is the photographer and filmmaker Souvid Datta.

Sons of banker father Soumilya and writer/art-house film director mother Sangeeta Datta,^[3][4][5] Soumik and Souvid Datta both attended Harrow School and Soumik was trained in the sarod by Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta, whom he called "grandfather".^[2] He went on to University College London, then studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, graduating in 2009 with an MMus in Composition.^[6] In 2006, he was invited by Jay-Z to play at the Royal Albert Hall and he subsequently performed on stage with Beyoncé, but declined an offer to join her on tour.^[2]

Soumik Datta contributed to the musical scores of the films Brick Lane (2007), Life Goes On (2009), and Gangs of Tooting Broadway (2013).

In 2017, he curated a festival of music and dance at the Horniman Museum in London.^[7] In the same year, he presented Tuning 2 You: Lost Musicians of India, a documentary directed by his brother Souvid.^[8]

In June 2019, Datta performed at the Glastonbury Festival. Later in the year he was signed by Bucks Music Group.^[9]

Albums

• Fretless (2009)
• Circle of Sound (2012)^[10] (with Bernhard Schimpelsberger)
• Anti-Hero (2014)^[11]
• King of Ghosts (2019)^[12]
• Jangal (2019)^[13]
• Silent Spaces' (2021)^[14]