Zubayeer's first guru was Sri Gobindo Rabi Das. His taleem in Indian classical music began in 1993 under the supervision of Ustad Mazhar Ali Khan and Jawad Ali Khan (grandsons of the legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan) of Kasur Patiala Gharana. But one incident in 1995 made him change his track. "I was in Delhi and I had the opportunity to experience an internationally acclaimed orchestra (conducted by Zubin Mehta) perform live at the Indira Gandhi Stadium," says the crooner, "that was a breakthrough experience."

Breakthrough indeed. Zubayeer went on to do his Masters in Western Classical Composition from Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. However, his passion for both Indian and western classical music are not mutually exclusive. The musician wants to experiment and incorporate elements of Indian classical music into western classical format. According to Zubayeer, "One feature of western classical compositions that I've always admired is the preciseness in execution. Every composition, down to its last note is specified; even the range of singers -- bass, baritone, tenor or contralto, mezzo-soprano, soprano -- is mentioned. There's provision for originality but no room for distortion.

"Music in our part of the world is all about improvisation. And that leaves an open ground for artistes rendering the same song in different ways. There are debates on accuracy of renditions of certain Tagore and Nazrul songs. I want to create music which will remain unchanged even after hundreds of years."

In 2003 Zubayeer was commissioned by Sundsvall Symphony Orchestra for an orchestral work, titled The Golden Land. Based on the six seasons of Bangladesh and the transformation in nature, Zubayeer composed the symphony where the blend of East and West is evident.

On the current music scene in Bangladesh, Zubayeer says, "There's definitely lack of originality. Not enough groundbreaking styles or inspiring songs have come up in the last three/four decades. Use of traditional acoustic instruments seems to be a dying trend. There is one skilled sitar player, no sarengi, esraj... it's a dismal picture. Everyone is going for fusion but for the most part, what one hears cannot be called fusion; more like choppy and sloppy inclusion of a little Latin here and bhangra there or something else. To be able to efficiently fuse different genres, one needs experience and skills like Kazi Nazrul Islam's creation of Bangla ghazals or RD Burman's use of Latin beats or Salil Chowdhury's use of East European orchestra styles.

"Most people don't want to learn things the right way which is also the hard way. Thanks to technology, now one can purchase software of percussion notes, ready to be pasted in compositions.

"However one positive aspect of advancement in technology is that production has become significantly cheaper and at this moment there are more buyers of music albums in the country than ever."

Zubayeer will run a three-month music course in Western Classical Composition at Alliance Francaise, starting from March 3 (every Friday). On the raison d'etre, he says, "In a globalised culture, one needs to learn the international language of music to project his/her heritage to the world. My dream is a music institution and this course is a humble beginning. Besides Western Classical Composition, other courses -- in classical guitar, violin and piano -- will also be offered at Alliance Francaise."