Joi Barua ( as, জয় বৰুৱা) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

singer and music composer. Born in

Digboi Digboi (IPA: ˈdɪgˌbɔɪ) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the north-eastern part of the state of Assam, India Crude oil was discovered here in late 19th century and first oil well was dug in 1866. Digboi is known a ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, he started his career by singing advertising jingles and later did playback singing for

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, Assamese and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

films. He is also the lead vocalist of the band ''Joi''. Barua has a mixed musical style incorporating elements of rock, soul,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

, folk and world music.

Early life

Joi was born in

, Assam, the younger of the two children to Ranjana Barua and Rohini Dhar Barua. His father gave him a violin when he was four years old and that triggered his lifelong passion for music. His family moved to

Jorhat Jorhat ( ) is one of the important cities and a growing urban centre in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and "Sowkihat" which existed on the opposite ...

when he was in junior school. When he was seven years old, his sister pushed him to join a singing competition and taught him the popular

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million ...

song '

Bachelor Boy "Bachelor Boy" is a song by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, written by Richard and Bruce Welch (from the Shadows). It became a hit when it was released as the B-side of Richard's single " The Next Time". Both sides of the single were regarded as hav ...

'. Even though ignorant about singing at that age, he won the competition. It was a defining moment. His school principal, Sister Mabilia, understood his passion for music and since then she never missed an opportunity to encourage him into singing and taking part in stage acts. Her favourite was the

Boney M Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

song '

El Lute EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

' -about a man wrongly imprisoned for a crime he did not commit- which he would often sing to her. He considers her as his first

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

in life and a constant source of inspiration. At home, he and his cousin Piku would sing songs of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of ...

, U2, etc. He passed out his high school from

St. Anthony's College, Shillong ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

, and later attended

Gauhati Commerce College Gauhati Commerce College located at R.G. Barooah Road in Guwahati. It is a government college affiliated to the ''Department Of Commerce'' of Gauhati University in Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the easte ...

for graduation. His personal inspirations include his father, who always encouraged him to take music out of classrooms into the hearts of people, and his ex-principal Sister Mabilia who guided his passion for music. His musical influences have been varied. It includes

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harr ...

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". '' AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list o ...

, U2, etc. Classical Composers like

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

and

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

, and Indians musicians like

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Brit ...

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

Salil Chowdhury Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This ...

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...

Bhupen Hazarika Bhupen Hazarika () (8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011) was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, filmmaker and politician from Assam, widely known as ''Sudha Kontho'' (meaning cuckoo, literally "nectar-throated"). His ...

and

Jayanta Hazarika Jayanta Hazarika (20 September 1943 – 15 October 1977) was an Indian singer and composer associated with Assamese music. He wrote lyrics for a few songs and composed music for several movies. He was the younger brother of Bhupen Hazarika. Po ...

also influenced him a lot.

Career

Barua started his career by singing

jingles A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

for several advertising campaigns including Fiat Linea, Vodafone, Reliance, LG, Hero Honda, Nescafe, Club Mahindra, Yatra.com etc. Before starting playback singing, he worked as background singers for several

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

films in the early 2000s. His notable playback singing for Hindi films include

Dev.D ''Dev.D'' is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language romantic black comedy film released on 6 February 2009. Written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, it is a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel '' Devdas'', previously ad ...

, Udaan,

Luv Ka The End ''Luv Ka The End'' () is a 2011 Hindi comedy drama film directed by Bumpy, starring Shraddha Kapoor and Taaha Shah in the lead roles. The film was the first production of Y-Films, a subsidiary of Yash Raj Films and released to mostly positive ...

Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge ''Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge'' () is a 2011 Indian Bollywood, Hindi romantic comedy film directed by debutante Nupur Asthana, starring debutant actors Saqib Saleem, Saba Azad, Tara D'Souza and Nishant Dahiya in the lead roles. The film is the sec ...

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara ''Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'' (), also abbreviated as ''ZNMD'', is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language buddy road comedy drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. The film featu ...

. In 2010, he recorded two songs for

film ''

Kalavar King ''Kalavar King'' is a 2010 Indian Telugu-language film directed by Suresh starring Nikhil Siddharth and Shweta Prasad. The film was released on 26 February 2010. The film was remade in Tamil as ''Eththan'' by the same director. It was also r ...

''.

Albums and singles

Barua, along with his band mates of ''Joi'', launched the album titled ''Joi: Looking out of the Window'' on 21 December 2010. The album contains 8 tracks and all of them features vocals of Barua. The songs are a blend of rock, soul, folk and worldbeat. The band also released the first music video filmed on ''Aikon Baaikon'', a track from the album. Apart from Barua, the band members are Pawan Rasaily (lead guitar), Ibson Lal Baruah (rhythm guitar), Manas Chowdhary (bass guitar) and Partho Goswami (drums). In 2011, he sang the Assamese song "Khiriki" for Hengool Theatre. In June 2013, Joi and his band released an Assamese single, ''Pitol Soku'' from the documentary ''Riders of the Mist''. The documentary features the bareback jockeys of

and

Sivasagar Sivasagar (Pron: or ) ("the sea of Shiva"), is a city in and headquarters of the Sivasagar district, Assam. Sivasagar is situated about 360 kilometers (224 mi) northeast of Guwahati. It is well known for its Ahom palaces and monuments. S ...

districts of the

and the song pays an homage to them. A blend of Rock and Worldbeat, the song and its promotional video was unveiled by

John Abraham John Abraham (born 17 December 1972) is an Indian actor, film producer, writer and former model working in Hindi films. He has won a National Film Award and received five Filmfare nominations. After modelling for advertisements and companies, ...

and

Vishal Dadlani Vishal Dadlani (born 28 June 1973) is an Indian singer, songwriter and music composer. He is one half of the duo Vishal–Shekhar, Front Man and vocalist of one of India's leading rock bands called Pentagram. As a singer he has sung various ...

. In 2014, he collaborated with

Shruti Haasan Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. Born in the Haasan family, she is the daughter of actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur. ...

and composed an Assamese-

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

fusion song titled ''Prithibi Ghure'', and performed together in an INKtalks live event. The Tamil lyrics was penned by

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

, while the Assamese lyrics were written by Ibson Lal Baruah. Joi released a number of singles during 2016 and 2017, under the project name 'Pride'. These songs with their videos portrays stories from

. While '''Rabha''' narrated an incident of the legendary Bishnu Rabha, collaborated with American saxophonist George Brooks, '''Na Jujor Ronuwa stressed on the lesser-known, but the largest tribe within Assam, the Koch-Rajbongshi's.

Movies and documentaries

In 2015, Barua composed the track ''Dusokute'' for the film ''

Margarita With A Straw ''Margarita with a Straw'' is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age follow ...

''. In the same year, Joi composed the songs & scored background music for a movie produced by

through John Abraham Entertainment Private Limited. The movie, titled 'Banana' was Directed by Sajid Ali. In 2016, Joi released another single titled "Riders of the Mist" from the documentary by the same name. This song was launched first in the music channel VH1 and was then circulated online. Joi composed the background score for a short film

Playing Priya Play is a range of Motivation#Incentive theories: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but m ...

and sang its title track with

Jonita Gandhi Jonita Gandhi is a Canadian playback singer of Indian descent. She has recorded songs predominantly in Hindi and Tamil languages with few in Punjabi, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam languages. Some of her most acclaim ...

. Titled ''"Meetha Zeher"'', the song comes in the end credits of the movie. In 2018, Joi co-composed the music for the movie

Laila Majnu ''Layla & Majnun'' ( ar, مجنون ليلى ; Layla's Mad Lover) is an old story of Arab origin, about the 7th-century Bedouin poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his ladylove Layla bint Mahdi (later known as Layla al-Aamiriya). "The Layla ...

along with

Niladri Kumar Pandit Niladri Kumar is an Indian sitar player and music composer. Early life He was born to sitar player Kartick Kumar, a disciple of Ravi Shankar. He started learning sitar under his father at the age of four. Kumar gave his first public per ...

. Written by Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali, the movie was directed by Sajid Ali. Joi composed a song titled '''Subeh Dekh Li''' for the Indian-American production The Illegal in 2019.

Ankit Tiwari Ankit Tiwari is an Indian playback singer, live perfomer ,music director, composer. His career began upon meeting Pradeep Sarkar where he got a chance to work on jingles and started composing background music for television programmes. Subsequ ...

rendered his voice to the song.

International collaborations

Joi is the co-composer of the original songs for the Album 'Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra'. Conceptualized on an original story by Dr. Susan Lim and Christina Teenz Tan, this is a collaborative venture with musicians across continents. A conversation with Dr. Lim at an INK Talks conference in 2017 at Singapore, where Joi performed and showcased his song 'Rabha' for the first time led to the project. French musicians Manu Martin and Matthieu Eymard, along with Ron Danziger from Australia, co-composed the original songs that form the 21 vignettes of the thirty-three minute album. Working towards a future musical told from the intersections of Science & Artificial Life, the music production has been centered around and recorded at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

, London.

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

London Voices London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939-2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, Ben Parry, became co-director of th ...

, Pianist Tedd Joselson and conductor Arthur Fagen, are the principal collaborators to this album.

Personal life

He lives in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with his wife Nayana Borthakur and their

Lhasa Apso The Lhasa Apso ( ) is a non-sporting dog breed originating in Tibet. It has traditionally been used as an interior sentinel. Etymology Lhasa is the capital city of Tibet, and ''apso'' is a word from the Tibetan language. There is some deba ...

, Junuka.

Awards and recognitions

2010 - Best Debut Award (2010) for the album ''Joi- Looking Out of the Window'' at the Big Music Awards by Big 92.7 FM,

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

. 2010 - He was invited as a 'Fellow' at the first INK Conference in 2010, a TED affiliated multidisciplinary conference, and as an INK Speaker in 2011. 2021 * Hollywood Gold Awards for 'Best Original Song' (New World Order) & 'Best Original Score' (with Manu Martin & Ron Danziger) - under the categories of Sci-fi & Animated Film respectively for the film FANTASY OF COMPANIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN AND INANIMATE. * Chicago Indie Film Awards - 'Best Composer' in the 9th Edition of the Chicago Indie Film Awards for the music video of 'New World Order' * Cannes World Film Festival (Feb '21) - Best Soundtrack for the film FANTASY OF COMPANIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN AND INANIMATE