Himangshu Goswami

He is a household name for Bangladeshi families in the UK, but it is not until this unassuming, softly-spoken man starts to sing - with a quite overwhelming sweetness - that you realise why. Composer of Sadher Lau, a song second only to the national anthem in its popularity to Bangladeshis, Himangshu Goswami was born in Sylhet and trained as a classical singer, before turning to folk and traditional songs. Saying that he was born to sing, Goswami built a successful career for himself, teaching and performing in Bangladesh until 1978, when at the age of 26 he was invited to tour London. That first concert in a cinema in London's Brick Lane was so successful that thousands of people waited outside to see if they could get tickets, and at the end of the concert, the Bangladeshi community would not let him leave. With a personal recommendation from Ravi Shankar, Goswami agreed to stay in the UK. Since then he has performed with George Harrison, Ali Akbar Khan, and worked with Ravi Shankar on the soundtrack for Gandhi . To the delight of his sons, he also performed with Kula Shaker for their hit Govinda. Goswami has also performed at countless charity concerts at major venues around the globe. He is also interested in working with flamenco music and, perhaps surprisingly, country & western, which he says shares the same liveliness of Bengali folk music. He also plans to set up a band to explore the crossover with rock music, helped by his eldest son. Experimentation is not all however: he says that when audiences say that he has helped them remember their homeland and their country it makes him very happy, and adds that "Music can change people, it can change people's lives".