Kabir Suman (born Suman Chattopadhyay; 16 March 1949) is an Indian music director, songwriter, singer, composer, politician, and former journalist. From May 2009 to 2014, he was a member of parliament of India in the 15th Lok Sabha, having been elected from the Jadavpur constituency in Kolkata from All India Trinamool Congress. He changed his name from Suman Chattopadhyay to Kabir Suman as he accepted Islam despite being a Hindu by birth. While explaining the reason of this religious transformation, he claimed his such move was to mark his protest against the killing of Christian missionary Graham Staines by a former member of Bajrang Dal. He shot to fame in the 1990s with bengali albums such as Tomake Chai (I Want You) and Boshe Anko (Sit-and-Draw). Early life Suman was born in a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family on 16 March 1949 to Sudhindranath and Uma Chattopadhyay at Cuttack, Odisha. He started his training in classical music at a very young age, under the tutelage of his father. Acharya Kalipada Das & Chinmoy Lahiri taught him the khayal. He studied at St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata. He graduated with an honours in English Literature from Jadavpur University and did a diploma in the French language and the German language. Around 1968, while learning Himangshu Dutta compositions, he felt that in spite of their compositional strength, they did not represent the contemporary times, lyrically. Kabir Suman's first studio recording was in 1972. It was released from Hindusthan Records. His second single vinyl record was published in 1973, from the same label. Both these records were commercially unsuccessful. After resigning from All India Radio he joined a clerical post at United Bank of India. Kabir Suman shifted to France temporarily to teach the basics of Indian Classical Music in 1973. It is said in one of his autobiographies, that in France he was first introduced to the songs of Bob Dylan and he claimed Dylan's songs left a great impression and influence on him. Kabir Suman went to West Germany on 12 May 1975.. At the end of 1975, Voice of Germany opened a Bengali department in Cologne, and he applied for a job there. They gave him some translation work, and he gradually became a regular freelancer for the Voice of Germany's Bengali division. In May 1979, Suman returned to Kolkata and he started to work as a teacher of German at