Jim Ankan Deka


Jim Ankan Deka is an Assamese musician, documentary film maker, photographer and director of Bangalore based organisation and music school Eastern Fare Music Foundation. He is the first Assamese to open a music institute and a production house in Bangalore, India. He won multiple awards for his song Aawaz - speak up against sexual violence based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape incident.

Biography

Early life and education

Jim Ankan Deka was born in Guwahati, Assam on 1 June 1980, to Assamese writer-couple Prof Bhabananda Deka and Nalini Prava Deka. He is the third of three children.
Deka started playing the guitar from the age of three. His initial training was in Borgeet and Khol.

Early career

Deka started his career in music at the age of 18 with his first album Prahar: Tumi Kowa Kothabor with an Assamese band Prahar. With his performance as a guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist in numerous concerts, events and TV shows, Deka made a name for himself in the music industry of Assam. In 2001 Deka founded a studio in Guwahati named La-Jiazz which was closed in 2006. Deka is a member of the band Voodoo Child in Assam.

Music career

Since 1998, Deka has been composing and arranging music for albums, TV series, documentaries, short films and ad jingles. Till 2012 he has composed music for six albums in various languages including English, Hindi, Assamese, Mizo and Goalporia. At present he is a member of Veenar, a jazz fusion band and Eastern Fare, an acoustic rock band in Bangalore.

Works and projects

Photography

Deka has been involved in concert and event photography since 2006.

Eastern Fare Music Foundation

Deka left for Bangalore in 2006 and founded the ace music institute Eastern Fare Music Foundation. Eastern Fare opened a club Eastern Fare Music Club in 2009 and a recording studio Eastern Fare Music Studio.
In 2010, Eastern Fare Music Foundation opened a production house in Bangalore called Eastern Fare Productions. Deka directed two short documentaries, Nagaland: Journey through the choir of clouds and Shillong under the same production house. The production house also produced a short film and two music videos.
In 2012 Deka opened a branch of Eastern Fare in Guwahati.

OK North East

In 2017, Deka co-founded a travel information and activity center for North-east India called OK North East in Guwahati with branches in Umiam and Bangalore. The company took up projects to bring foreign tourists to not very well known to unexplored places in the North-east. The company has been taking up tasks to help villages in the North-east through the means of sustainable development along with providing training on soft skills to the villagers.

Honors and awards

Deka has been invited as a guest and judge for some of the major music competitions and events in India. Some of the notable events where Deka was invited as a judge were Ananya '10 at Kammavari Sangha Institute of Technology, 12th Inter Collegiate Youth Fest at Channabasaveshwara Institute of Technology, Spring Fest at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Alcheringa at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Rock Hammer at Indian National Autocross Championship, Consensio at Royal Group of Institutions and Idea Rocks India Talent Hunt,.

Discography

Single compositions

English

Documentaries

Television series

Short films