Ujjayinee Roy is a singer-songwriter, educator, columnist, poet, dancer and actor. Though she currently resides between Mumbai and Chennai, Ujjayinee was born and raised in Agartala, Tripura where she spent her formative years. She has been the voice behind numerous songs in mainstream Indian music and sung in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Telegu films and has worked with Indian music producers and directors like A R Rahman, Illayaraja, Sajid –Wajid, Harris Jayaraj, Devi Shree Prasad, Yuvan Shankar Raja and many more. She has also lent her voice for numerous jingles, ad-films and voice-overs. A multi-linguist and multi-genre artist, Ujjayinee has also extensively worked with artists from other countries and cultures. 
Her journey in to the world of music began in Agartala at the age of three when she began training in Hindustani Classical Music. She trained under two Gurus Ganesh Dev Burman and then Pandit Ramendranath Dey. Ujjayinee started performing for All India Radio and Doordarshan Kendra from the age of seven. By the time she was eighteen, she was already a graded artist and composer with All India Radio. In the meanwhile, she also continued performing in live concerts. After training in Hindustani classical music for twenty years, Ujjayinee moved to the city of Bangalore to pursue her post graduation. After a brief stint of seven years with the corporate world she followed her heart’s calling and jumped straight into the music and film industry. Since then she has lived in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai travelling and performing in local and International concerts. She currently shuttles between Mumbai and Chennai where she performs and teaches music. She has also been associated with Radio Mirchi as a radio jockey and producer.
During the early days of her musical career, she had also been the founder member of bands like Tribe and Aurko. For many years Ujjayinee has been working and experimenting with various genres of music like pop, rock, blues, jazz, folk music, opera, Indian and Western classical etc. and this versatility is visible in her voice as well as her compositions.
In the year 2011, Ujjayinee met guitar player and music producer from Germany and Los Angeles, Ed DeGenaro and thereby started a new musical journey for her. She teamed upwith him for his fusion album “Holiday in Madras” lending her voice as well as co-producing some of the tracks. She has been touring with him as the vocalist of his band since then. She has experimented with various styles and genres of music in the album. Ujjayinee has also released numerous original singles and compilations, like This Feels Right, Novocain for the Soul etc. Currently, she is in the final stages of releasing her fusion album called Ménage à Trois which she is co-writing and co-producing with Ed DeGenaro and India’s ace trumpet player Kishore Sodha. 
Some of the other international and Indian artists that Ujjayinee has performed and collaborated with are multiple Grammy winner Ric Fierabracci, Indian classical and fusion artist and Grammy winner Selva Ganesh, classical and fusion artist Ghatam Umashankar,Indian saxophonist Padmashri Kadri Gopalnath, Carnatic vocalist Mahesh Vinayakram, Indian classical artist Prakash Sontakke, vocalist Padmashri Usha Utthup, guitar player Sanjeev Thomas, the band Blues Conscience (vocalist and co-producer), Wolf’s Lair (vocalist and coproducer) etc.
Ujjayinee was also jointly nominated for Global Indian Music Academy (GIMA) Awards along with guitar player Sanjeev Thomas for their single “Tanha – Alone” of which she was the vocalist and lyricist. Some of her original compositions like “Kalighata – Rain Clouds” and “This Feels Right” have been rated amongst the top chartbusters in indie-music.
Ujjayinee Roy is also a Bharatnatyam danseuse and has performed in numerous sabhas and dance festivals like the prestigious Mayura Natyanjali. Theatre and the silver screen are her other achievements. She already has numerous released feature films in her kitty as well as televisions series and web-series. She has also taught Hindustani classical music (vocals) at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music, a premiere music institute in India, and is currently a senior faculty at The True School of Music (Vijaybhoomi University).
As told to Indigenousherald
June 29 2021