The names
Sanjaye Vatsal is Sanjay Banubakode.
If you came here looking for the ghazal singer Sanjaye Vatsal — or Sanjay Vatsal, or Sanjay Banbakode — you have found him. Same voice, same records, one artist. And the stage name has a story that begins at home.
Why “Vatsal”?
Sanjay Banubakode was born in Maharashtra and sang under his own name from the day All India Radio approved him in 1985. The stage name came much later, and it came from home: Vatsal is taken from his mother's name.
Banubakode was a mouthful for many listeners. When Ek Tukda Aasman Ka, his album with Aarti Ankalikar-Tikekar, was being released in 2009, listeners and well-wishers kept suggesting something simpler to say and remember. He chose a name that meant something to him, and became Sanjay Vatsal.
Six years on, as Sony DADC prepared Aameen and then Huzoor, the company advised him to keep the name people now knew. With one added letter it became Sanjaye Vatsal — sometimes printed SANJAYe VATSAL on posters — and that is the name on the YouTube channel, the nineteen singles and the social profiles.
Record labels added spellings of their own. N A Classical kept Sanjay Vatsal, as did the Summer Camp soundtrack. Saregama's Marathi ghazal album Dekhani went out as Sanjay Banbakode, a mis-spelling of his surname.
One thing he never changed was his original name. By the time the stage name settled, many listeners already knew and loved him as Sanjay Banubakode, so the two have lived side by side: Sanjaye Vatsal the artistic identity, Sanjay Banubakode the name underneath it and the foundation of the whole journey. From 2026 he performs and releases as Sanjay Banubakode. Nothing is being re-released or renamed retroactively: every record on this site shows the credit exactly as it was issued, and the streaming pages are being consolidated so that all of it sits under one artist.
How the name evolved
Three names, one voice.
- 1985 Sanjay Banubakode The name he was born with, and the one All India Radio approved him under.
- 2009 Sanjay Vatsal Taken at the release of Ek Tukda Aasman Ka, when listeners asked for something easier to say. Vatsal is from his mother’s name.
- 2015 Sanjaye Vatsal The spelling Sony DADC suggested he keep for Aameen and Huzoor. On every single and profile since.
- 2026 Sanjay Banubakode Performs and releases under his original name again; the stage name stays explained, never erased.
Released as “Sanjaye Vatsal”
Released as “Sanjay Banbakode”
