Shuvanjan Karmaker

Shuvanjan Karmaker is a Bengali classically trained multi-instrumentalist & composer who began his musical training at the age of five.

In his early years, he trained with his mother, a Bengali classical musician, in Chayanot, a revered music school in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His first instruments were harmonium and voice, although his musical passions eventually evolved from Bengali folk music and ghazal to punk rock and beyond. In 2005 he helped organize the first all-punk show in Bangladesh—a huge success and a turning point in terms of his musical ambitions. 

Throughout his high school and college years he performed every weekend—playing in pop bands, rock bands, metal bands, punk bands, folk bands—whoever needed a guitar or a bass player. When he came to Halifax in 2009 to study International Development Science at Saint Mary’s University, he embraced the finger-picking guitar style, playing bars and festivals all over Nova Scotia, and later contributing to a folk-punk band and an electronic big-band project lead by Pineo&Loeb. 

Eventually, he forged a desire to start his own project, which led to the creation of Superfluid Collective. The goal was to create a musical entity that played engaging music—and, in the process, to collaborate with many of the most talented singers, rappers, and instrumentalists in the region. He achieved that, and more. Through numerous incarnations, the band played its own brand of progressive R & B and funk at almost every major music festival on the east coast, including Evolve in Antigonish, Festival Inspire in Moncton, Living Roots and Summer Soulsa in Fredricton, and the Halifax Jazz Festival. In 2023, Superfluid Collective will be releasing both a studio album,and a live album recorded at Mayworks Festival, as well as a Mayworks remix by Uncle Fester featuring numerous musical guests.

His charismatic personality and enthusiasm for music in all its forms has allowed him to develop relationships with musicians from every genre. His musical evolution has most recently involved branching into music direction; in 2022 he collaborated with numerous artists and bands, including Kxng Wooz and Jody Upshaw to arrange their music for the stage, and is eager to grow these skills as a natural progression of his musical career.

Work as Music Director

Notable work as Bandleader & Composer of Superfluid Collective

This was my first official Showcase as a Music Director.

I had the great opportunity to showcase contemporary jazz & hip-hop to the audience of Summer Soulsa Festival 2021.

Audio Recorded by Dario Lozano Thornton

Video Recorded & Edited by Charlie Benoit

Video Edited by Shuvanjan Karmaker

Live Performance Recording at Evergreen Festival

Original Composition by Avishai Cohen

Music Arranged by Shuvanjan Karmaker

Music performed by Superfluid Collective