Rupa: the Indian vocalist who embraced disco
It certainly did not take long for the infectious rhythm of disco to transcend the exclusive nightclubs of New York City to become a global phenomenon. With its roots in Black American dance music and Hispanic rhythms, disco is usually tied pretty heavily to North America. However, one of the genre’s most underappreciated artists hailed from the unlikely place of West Bengal, India.
The glitz and glamour of disco, at first glance, probably does not lend itself to India quite as well as it does to the vibrant nightlife of New York. However, given India’s storied history of musical innovation, and penchant for the celebration of colour and joy, disco certainly seems right at home in the South Asian country. Flying the flag for Indian disco before anybody else was the vocalist Sukla Biswas – better known by her stage name, Rupa.
Rupa had been fascinated by music since childhood, with her mother teaching her how to sing classical music and traditional Hindi geets (poems). However, the musical landscape of 1970s India tended to look towards the newfound influences of Western rock and pop, with groups like The Beatles dominating the airways, leading a young Rupa to set her sights on a career in pop music.
Despite her passion for music, Rupa was a realist – how likely was it that a young woman from West Bengal would become a global pop star? Dejected, the promising young vocalist enrolled in a Biology course at Calcutta University, relegating her singing to being a part-time gig. That was until her family decided to take a fateful trip to Canada to visit her older brother. While in Calgary, Alberta, Rupa stunned the local Indian community with her vocals, eventually performing some Hindi tracks at the University of Calgary in front of the Grammy-nominated Indian artist Aashish Khan.
As a result of her enchanting music, the idea of recording an album was brought about. With Rupa’s family set to leave Canada within a week, time was of the essence. Employing a rag-tag bunch of local Calgary musicians, extensive studio sessions would result in nothing short of a masterpiece: Disco Jazz. Released by Indian label Megaphone in 1982, the album is unlike anything else, within the world of disco or otherwise. Fusing disco styles with a certain degree of jazz-funk and, of course, Eastern influences from her home nation, Rupa’s first and only studio album is a truly unique offering.
Tragically, the album proved too unique for many, and it soon fell into obscurity. For years, the fate of Rupa was unknown, with the album only known by hardcore disco junkies and vinyl-obsessed crate diggers. However, that all changed in 2016 when a music fan in New York uploaded the album track ‘Aaj Shanibar’ onto YouTube, where it was picked up by musician and radio DJ Dan Snaith. The resulting interest in the 1982 album inspired a resurgence of Rupa’s popularity and a long-awaited repress of Disco Jazz.
This resurgence in her summer holiday project of 1982 came as a great surprise to Rupa, now Rupa Sen, still living in Kolkata. In an interview with Scroll in 2019, she joked, “How come all of a sudden the world is interested in my music? I’m like a dead fossil.” While, admittedly, it did take the world a little too long to appreciate the sounds of Rupa, Disco Jazz is anything but a fossil, sounding as fresh and euphoric today as it was all those years ago.
