Music's melting pot by Mahfuz Sadique Dipping into Dibyagyaan
Shahaj manush,
Bhojey dekh na re mon, dibbyogayney…
As Lalon's lullaby on the human spirit rendered by Anusheh's soulful alto drifts into the evening air from a shining red sports car's state-of-the-art Pioneer speakers, you can be forgiven if the thought crossed your mind: do they know what it means? The new folk-fusion revival draws its inspiration from multi-various influences. Today's Ujan, Bangla, Habib and Ajob all have roots in the long tradition of folk practice in Bangla music. Right through the Seventies, when the four Khalifas of Bangla rock-pop – Azam Khan, Firoz Shai, Ferdous Wahid and Fakir Alamgir – were transforming Bangla music forever, they all drew elements from our rich folk heritage. Be it the rural yearning in Fakir Alamgir's quintessentially urban Shakhina, or the spiritual in Sopondon's Iskool khuila che re moula, pop has always stolen liberally from the folk singer's custom.
And back to you, Lalon …
The folk revival came into full force in the form of folk-fusion following the release of Bangla's Kingkortobobimur (or simply, 'Awestruck') in 2002. Out of the few groups working with lyrical fusion, Bangla practices and performs both traditional folk songs and also their own compositions. With the husky, soulful voice of Anusheh accompanied by the classical purity of Arnab's esraj, Shantonu's rhythmic beats, Buno and Kartik's smooth guitar playing, Bangla struck an unexplored chord in Dhaka's musical palette. Their songs were mostly by Lalon Shah, Durbin Shah, Amar Pal Baul and other folk legends. With the mysticism of life, the clemency of the supreme entity and common themes of love, death and hate as the underlying backdrop of the songs, Bangla created a fusion of western and eastern instruments and elements. The result was something completely new out of something old.
Anusheh of Bangla points out that this is not exactly a resurgence of any sort, rather another logical step in the unfolding world music scene. Like the 70's was about following the Beatles, the eighties about Metallica, the 90's about Nirvana, the new age of globalisation is about taking your local music onto the world stage. 'Look at what Indians, especially those living abroad, have done. They have taken their traditional music and transformed it into the modern sound structure. You go to any club in London, Indian music is the rage. Whereas there are some Indian musicians who are trying to play western music directly and they have not gotten anywhere,' comments Anusheh. 'Also, with internet and satellite television, we are exposed to such quality music that for our industry to survive, we need to find new ways to present our music,' she adds.
The Second Coming
Bangla takes its roots from Ujan, a group playing similar kind of music under the leadership of Harold Rashid, a musician passionate about folk and its revival. Buno, who is presently Bangla's bassist, started playing music with this group in 1997. He was deeply influenced by the lyrical and musical depth of Bangla folk music. In early 1998, Buno met Anusheh at a tea garden in Sylhet. And after some discussion, they expressed a mutual intention to create folk fusion. After a few months, back in Dhaka, Buno met up with Anusheh and her friend Arnab. In unison they all decided to perform music that was different from what was currently out there. They started brainstorming, and on the spur of the moment they recorded three songs. Even with the conviction that they should record a full-length album, the record companies they approached gave them a cold reception. The labels wanted strip them of their freedom to create music that was 'offtrack'. But their faith in their cause kept them from giving in.
Old Music in New Forms
The concept of a folk revival is not new, having been attempted by every generation of music makers. A decade earlier Maqsood of Feedback fame had played a pivotal role in reviving folk through his band's Bauliana album. He started this journey to Bauliana in 1989 when his friend Shomnath Chaterjee from India made an offer to explore the Baul songs of Bengal. 'I will be frank. When I started out in music, it was more the physical, i.e. dance, that drew my attention. But as I have been delving deeper, I am discovering the "cerebral" side of music,' says Maqsood.
On the banks of Kajla Nadi
Harold Rashid has practiced the Sylheti-folk initiative for nearly two decades now. His band Ujan, founded in 1986, has been diligently scouring Sylhet's villages and townships for unique folk tunes and lyrics. Having practiced music while being schooled in the UK, Harold returned to his father's homeland in 1981. With a fully Westernized mindset in music, Harold met Bidit Lal Dash. With Bidit's group Harold started venturing into what he refers to as his 'destined track' in music. Despite being a 'when-I-had-the-time-and-I-could' musician during the Nineties, since 2000 he has fully dedicated his time to the revival of Sylheti folk through Ujan. Their first album is expected soon.
Krishna's reincarnation – Techno style
Bangladeshi audiences have been simultaneously experiencing a completely different style of folk revival. Habib Wahid, son of the legendary Ferdous Wahid, shot into the mainstream music scene with his breakaway hit album Krishna. The School of Audio Engineering in London taught Habib the technical wizardry needed to take traditional Sylheti folk music, and 'recreate' them into chart-smashing club tracks.
'I believe music is my form of expression. I have taken ingredients from my country's rich oral tradition and transformed in into my own representation of music,' says Habib. Though his first album was completely techno remixes, Habib's second album has more pure folk elements and instrument usage. However, this only aided Maya in becoming another smash hit.
The urban bohemian
While folk revivals were being jumpstarted every generation, the mid-nineties saw a the coming of a new urban bohemian music style which drew heavily from the 'jibondhormi gaan' of Sumon Chatterjee, Anjan Datta and Nochiketa of Kolkata. These were second-generation educated urban disaffected youth playing acoustic guitars, melding bohemian lyrics with elements from every day life. They were our new urban bauls.
Ektaar e Badha
Faisal Siddiqui Bogey, the managing director of Ektaar Music, the recording label attributed with being at the forefront of the new folk revival trend, points out that 'Amongst all the traditional forms of music we have in this country, folk music is the most easily adaptable to the western sound structure.'
'Folk music by definition is good music, because it has survived the test of time. So the lyrics are bound to be eternal. We at Ektaar were looking to record good music, not necessarily folk music. Folk just fit bill. However, with the emergence of folk-fusion, the bar on good music has been raised. Now, songwriters are being forced to write songs that can compete with music that has in some cases survived a 1000 years,' says Bogey
Till the bubble bursts?
Someone who has been academically involved in researching Bauls, and also a keen observer of the folk revival scene, is Saymon Zakaria, manuscript editor of Bangla Academy's Folklore Department. He points out that the success of Bangla and Habib has to do with the way they have adapted folk music. 'Bangla's success depends on Anusheh's stylish usage of her classical training in rendering these folk songs. You must understand that "bhab" passes into you genetically and then transforms itself through your present reality. That is the only way you can make it work,' says Saymon.
'What has happened is that we have returned to our Bengali melody base of singing more songs that are lyrically strong instead of sound-based music. We have this in our genes and every time you hear it you get goosebumps – this music belongs to us,' declares Saymon. Bogey adds, 'We have had a rich tradition that dates backs almost a thousand years. As opposed to that, the American music that we listen to dates back only a hundred years from the original blues sung by black musicians. This is far more time-tested music.'
Spread the love
On the issue of whether these fusion renditions are destroying the true essence of folk music, Saymon has something very interesting to say. 'In my extensive visits, I have found that the Rajbangshis in Mulgram village under Pabna's Chatmohar thana practice Lalon's songs with their own musical arrangements. They use Lalon's lyrics, but feel that new compositions reflect their sensibilities,' says Saymon.
It is true. If Lalon and the great Bauls of Bengal shared their music in the hope of illuminating the power of the human soul, then the current presentation of folk in our modern idiom is nothing more than an extension of this dibyogyan.
This article was originally printed in the March 2005 issue of SLATE
Edited by Qwest - 18 years ago
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