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{{Short description|Indian singer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rupa Biswas
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1955
| birth_place = [[Malda Town]], West Bengal, India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = Singer
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}

'''Rupa Biswas''' is an Indian singer who is known for her singular ''Disco Jazz'' album.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09m3hjx|title=BBC World Service – Outlook, My mother, India's forgotten disco diva|website=BBC}}</ref><ref name="theguardian">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jun/21/from-bengal-to-boogie-rupa-biswas-indias-rediscovered-disco-diva|title=From Bengal to boogie: Rupa Biswas, India's rediscovered disco diva | Disco|website=The Guardian|date=21 June 2019|access-date=2021-12-10}}</ref><ref name="scroll">{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/magazine/919299/the-bengali-homemaker-whose-disco-jazz-album-has-become-a-holy-grail-after-40-years-of-anonymity|author=Nate Rabe|website=scroll.in|title=Who is Rupa Sen and why has her Disco Jazz album become a 'holy grail' after 40 years of anonymity?|access-date=2021-12-10}}</ref>

== Biography ==
She was born as Sukla Biswas in 1955, in [[Malda Town]], West Bengal, India.<ref name="theguardian"/> Biswas was married to Udayan and has a son Debayan.<ref name="theguardian"/>

Her one and only album, ''Disco Jazz'', was released in 1982, shortly after her father took the family on a holiday to Canada in 1981.<ref name="theguardian"/>

In 1981, at the [[University of Calgary]]'s Boris Roubakine Hall, she sang [[Geet (song)|geets]] and [[ghazals]] for three hours to an audience which included musicians such as [[Aashish Khan]] (later a [[Grammy Award]] nominee) and his [[tabla]]-playing brother Pranesh Khan, who were grandsons of [[Allauddin Khan]] and former collaborators with [[Ravi Shankar]] and [[George Harrison]] of [[The Beatles]].<ref name="theguardian"/> Aashish and Pranesh Khan had taken an interest in [[disco]] music following the success of [[Pakistani pop]] singer [[Nazia Hassan]]. The Khan brothers had composed disco music for a project called ''Disco Jazz''. After watching Rupa's performance, the Khan brothers approached her to perform vocals for the project.<ref name="Wax">{{cite web |title=Rupa, the voice of "Aaj Shanibar," speaks out after 40 years |url=https://www.waxpoetics.com/article/rupa-the-voice-behind-aaj-shanibar-speaks-out-after-forty-years/ |website=[[Wax Poetics]] |access-date=15 June 2023 |date=16 March 2021}}</ref>

The Khan brothers produced her first album ''Disco Jazz'', which was completed in 1981 and released in 1982.<ref name="Wax"/> The song "Aaj Shanibar" ({{translation|"Today's Saturday"}}) was mostly sung in the [[Bengali language]], along with some [[Hindi]].<ref name="pitchfork"/> She was given vocals written by Aashish Khan's wife Firoza Khan and a cordless mic, which she had never seen before. Rupa was used to wearing traditional [[Indian clothing]] and all this was a new experience for her. For the album cover image, she chose a dress which she found in the kids' section of a department store and decided to go with a haircut that she still uses today.<ref name="theguardian"/>

After recording her vocals, she spent time in the United Kingdom with her brother Chandan, who later paid for all her recordings.<ref name="theguardian"/> In 1982, Rupa sold a handful of copies of ''Disco Jazz'' and soon faded into anonymity. The album disappeared from circulation.<ref name="theguardian"/>

For a long time Rupa remained away from the public eye until her work was rediscovered by Indian filmmaker [[Ashim Ahluwalia]], who owned a rare vinyl copy and selected the tracks "Aaj Shanibar", "Moja Bhari Moja", and "Ayee Morshume Be-Reham Duniya" for the soundtrack of his film, ''[[Miss Lovely]]'', which competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="theguardian"/> It was also released unofficially on a German record label, Ovular.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://homegrown.co.in/article/804801/rediscovering-calcuttas-disco-jazz-from-the-80s-its-star|title=Rediscovering Calcutta's Disco Jazz From The '80s & Its Star|website=homegrown.co.in}}</ref>

In 2014, Rupa's son, Debayan Sen, discovered an album inside his house in [[Kolkata]], India. The album featured a picture of his mother, leading to the discovery of her buried musical career. On Google, Sen discovered that the album ''Disco Jazz'' was a rarity, selling at high prices on websites such as [[Discogs]] and was already viewed by millions on YouTube.<ref name="pitchfork" /> ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' compared "Aaj Shanibar" to [[Balearic beat]] music, a style of [[house music]], stating it contains "touches of what would now be considered Balearic beat music, with its expansive and hypnotic musical interludes."<ref name="pitchfork">{{cite news |title=How a Long-Lost Indian Disco Record Won Over Crate Diggers and Cracked the YouTube Algorithm |url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-a-long-lost-indian-disco-record-won-over-crate-diggers-and-cracked-the-youtube-algorithm/ |access-date=15 June 2023 |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=22 January 2020}}</ref>

In April 2016, Fran Korzatowski, a music fan based in Albany, New York, identified the song "Aaj Shanibar" based on the ''Miss Lovely'' end credits and later uploaded it to YouTube.[1] A few months later, [[Dan Snaith]] discovered Aaj Shanibar on YouTube and immediately selected it for his live DJ sets and radio broadcasts on NTS and Gilles Peterson's Worldwide FM.[1] Since then, the album has been re-issued by [[The Numero Group]], a well-established archival record label.[2] The song has been used by [[Loewe (fashion brand)|Loewe]] in ''Paula's Ibiza 2020'' advertising campaign and by [[Netflix]] in the television series ''[[Cowboy Bebop (2021 TV series)|Cowboy Bebop]]'' (2021).<ref>{{cite news |title=Her debut album bombed 42 years ago. Now, at 69, Rupa is finally getting the praise she deserves |url=https://www.vogue.in/content/her-debut-album-bombed-42-years-ago-now-at-69-rupa-is-finally-getting-the-praise-she-deserves |access-date=10 July 2024 |work=[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]] |date=18 April 2024 |language=en-IN}}</ref>

==Discography==
'''Albums'''
*''Disco Jazz''

'''Songs'''
* "Aaj Shanibar"
* "Moja Bhari Moja"<ref name="scroll"/>
* "Ayee Morshume Be‐reham Duniya"
* "East West Shuffle"

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biswas, Rupa}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian singers]]
[[Category:Singers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women musicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:1955 births]]

Rupa Biswas - Revision history

Kalyan Yadav SPKAY: created a entry