In the summer of 2014, Ashish Ranjan Thakur and Harpreet Hasrat, two vocalists of the band Bombay Bairag, met for the first time through friends in the music fraternity. Thakur, who had studied Indian Classical Music under the tutelage of Pandit Ajay Pohankar and Pandit Paritosh Pohankar and Western Classical and Jazz under the guidance of Tushar Kongari was working with Citibank in London at that time. Wanting to restart his musical journey, he returned to India. Harpreet, who was training under Pandit Arvind Parikh, was already part of the local gig scene in India and wanted to experiment beyond pure Classical concerts. “The duo attracted like-minded musicians including myself. The youngest member is 18 while the oldest is 35,” says Apurva Pendharkar, the female vocalist of the band.

Bombay Bairag merges Sufi music with Indian classical elements