The Lament of Strings: Silchar's Rohan Sen and his tempestuous journey with the guitar

When it comes to artistic expression, walking the rope between ‘Passion’ and ‘Professionalism’ have always been a challenge for any artist. And musicians in any corner of the globe would readily agree to that. And someone like Rohan Sen, a musician hailing from Silchar, Assam would know it quite well as he’s been tip-toeing that thin line for over two decades now.

Lead guitarist of jazz-fusion band Muse Park, Rohan Sen is a full-time music professional who has also taught guitar for a living. But his journey to the present-day stature of a professional musician was far from easy, with ups and downs throughout his career testament only to his unflinching passion and devotion to the kind of music he adores so much.

For the majority of Gen-Z belonging from this region, his name might seem new to them. But that’s only because Rohan Sen is someone who has always liked to keep a low profile and work under the shadows. But that should be confused with neither his talent and skillset nor his devotion to guitar. Throughout his eventful career, both as a sessions guitarist and as a member of a slew of diverse groups (Muse Park, Looney Cubes, Alokborsho, Athoi, etc. to name a few), Rohan has shared the stage with some gigantic names in the music industry of the country, and also brushed shoulders with the likes of Bhoomi, Ashok Roy of Euphoria, Sonam Sherpa of Parikrama, to name a few. But his shy nature and soft-spoken attitude meant that he neither craved for the spotlight, nor he ever bragged about any of these events to anyone except a very few ones who were fortunate enough to know him up-close.

Formative years and family roots:

Born and raised in Silchar, Rohan Sen grew up in a family of Indian classical background, and both his parents imparted their knowledge starting from a tender age. All thanks to the musical roots of his family, Rohan was exposed to both Indian classical as well as Western commercial music like The Beatles and Abba. “My father was a tabla player and mother used to sing, hence I started learning to sing from quite an early age. I was also privileged enough to get tutored by some big legendary names like Shibani Brahmacharya and Sandip Ghosh who had a lasting effect on me. I was in class 5 back then, I think”, said Rohan while trying to reminisce his formative years.

But in class 10 of his high school years, he came across something that would change his outlook on music forever. It was then that Rohan Sen’s evolution as a musician had just begun. Trying to recall that period, Rohan said, “It was 1999 when I was truly exposed to guitar and the world of rock music. Me and a few friends of mine used to go to this guy named Ritchie Gangmei, who’s probably one of the best guitar players I’ve come across to date. In June of ’99, I vividly remember attending a show at the RDI Complex in Silchar where Ritchie was playing. There, he performed Joe Satriani’s ‘Echo’ which swept me off my feet, as I could almost feel that Satriani himself was playing there. And that was the watershed moment in my musical career as I started gravitating towards the instrument then more than ever”.

The invasion of guitar in the following years:

Rohan’s love affair with the guitar had just begun, as time went by, he was finding it hard to resist his attachment with six strings. Quite overtly, he admitted that it was Ritchie who introduced him to the likes of Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Alan Holdsworth, John McLaughlin, and others. “When I was in my 12th, I was at crossroads between singing and the newfound love for playing the guitar. My parents didn’t want me to leave singing as they thought I was good at it. But being a shy person, I found comfort in sharing my complex emotions with guitar rather than my own voice”.

It was then that he decided to chuck singing and devote his full-time to guitar. Silently rebelling against what people around him wanted him to be, he kept learning without almost nobody noticing him, including his parents. “I used to go to Ritchie’s place pretending to my parents that I was going to tuition. And when at home, I’d keep a book open in front of me and practice all on my own, so that if anybody would barge in, I’d tell them that I was studying. The guitar too was given to me by a friend of mine, to whom I’m forever grateful”, Rohan shared with a hint of an embarrassing smile on his face.

The years of grind and opportunities:

In 2006, he ventured out to Delhi in search of his dream of making it as a guitarist. Armed with an undergraduate degree of B.Sc, it was already a tough job maintaining his music and earning bread. Even then, he managed to get employed at the IBM as a daytime job, while dedicating the rest of his time to making and learning the trade of music. In the following years until 2011, he kept switching from Kolkata to Delhi to Pune and back-and-forth in brief stints.

“In Kolkata, I was blessed to have met and known some of the most talented musicians there. I was part of two bands there, Alokborsho – an Indian classical-rock fusion group having an HMV release under its banner, and Looney Cubes, a jazz-progressive rock fusion band. We used to hit almost every competition available there, and almost always we used to come second there. The first winner title would always go to either Underground Authority and the Girish and the Chronicles.” The original lead guitarist of Alokborsho used to be Subhadeep Mitra, who’s a renowned sound engineer in Bollywood now and has worked at a lot of commercial blockbuster films over the years, whom Rohan replaced later as their axeman. With Alokborsho, he released an album titled ‘Marijuana’ to critical acclaim.

But for all the knowledge and exposure to music, Rohan always had a hard time tackling professional consistency throughout his career. He left both Looney Cubes (which broke up right after his departure) and Alokborsho after a brief stint, both of whom used to be a hotshot name in the independent music scene back in those days. This lack of professional commitment to his projects meant he was always on the move, looking for newer opportunities on the horizon. Ruminating about that phase, Rohan said, “I never had any issue with playing nor with my devotion to music. But when it came to professional commitment, I always used to fumble for some reason or the other. And everybody knows, to survive in this unforgiving indie music industry, one’s gotta grind their way throughout, no matter how supremely talented one is. There’s no other way around, to be honest.”

But his acute musical sensibilities and impressive guitar playing never failed to impress even the likes of iconic names like the late Sonam Sherpa of Parikrama. Reminiscing about his days in Delhi, Rohan said, “One of my friends hooked me up with the Parikrama School of Music to try for the job as a guitar tutor. I played with Sonam Sherpa, and I guess he was impressed with me because he asked me to take his number before leaving so that I can keep in touch with him. But due to my unstable situation back then, I never called him back. And when I did call him back after months right before I was about to leave Delhi for good, he kind of astonishingly asked me why I never responded to which I had no answer. He did try to change my mind at the last moment, but I guess it was too late already.”

Throughout his career, both as a part of a group and as a sessions musician, Rohan Sen played in some renowned venues like the Piano Man in Delhi, Shisha Cafe in Pune, The Big Ben and the Trincas in Kolkata (where Usha Uthup used to frequent), among many others. “Looking back now, if I say that I didn’t get enough opportunities, I’d be lying. Because I used to brush shoulders and play with the cream crowd of the indie music scene back in the day”.

Return to Silchar and Muse Park years:

After leaving everything there, Rohan finally came back to his hometown and started teaching music to earn his bread. He was still playing music and posting online, but only as a passion. Parallelly, he was also working as the music tutor at the Sarala Birla Gyanjyoti school. “By 2019, I had accumulated almost around 100 compositions of my own. So, I don’t know how but I picked up my phone and rang the manager of Piano Man (Delhi) asking for a gig. Fortunately enough, he loved my music and set a date for me to perform there. But I didn’t have a band with me, so I had to find musicians to play my music. It was then that I met Soumya (Das) and Deep (Das) for drums and bass”, he shared narrating the nascent years of Muse Park.

After the successful completion of that gig in Delhi, Rohan came back with a vision – to sustain this newfound group called Muse Park. “Deep couldn’t continue with Muse Park due to ti his work commitment, so I had to again search for a bassist and another guitarist. So, I roped in Antu on bass and Prosenjit (Rajbongshi) on the second guitar. After a few rehearsals, we clicked so well that I had no doubt left about our project. After a few days of jamming, we had already churned up around 16 new compositions, that good our understanding was with each other”. In the last couple of years, Muse Park has performed at several local shows all around the valley including the second edition of the Hozaak Fest, 2022 to much acclaim.

As of now, Rohan is quite optimistic that this project of his would sustain and would go on to achieve even greater new heights. “We have already released several singles. Right now, we’re in the process of releasing our debut album, which we’re hopeful will be out by this year”, said Rohan with a hint of optimism in his tone.

But to condense his entire career of 22 years as a musician, Rohan Sen might just be the greatest ‘What could’ve been’ to come out of this region. Overcoming all the obstacles and setbacks life had to offer, Rohan came out in his own pace and groove, with his virtuosity gracing and influencing dozens of musicians in and outside of Barak Valley. Because in his own admission, “Information alone can’t account for wisdom, it’s the careful usage and manifestation of information that provides wisdom to one”.