The British Council’s Folk Nations Concert will bring together six musicians from India and UK on one stage. Indian sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan and baul singer Saurav Moni chat with Divya Kaushik on their collaboration and discoveries during a week-long residency programme
One man’s strength was another’s inspiration here. Thoughts flew as freely as a cascade and sounds, beats and rhythm kept constant company to these six artistes who got along to jam and create something unique. Each was inspired by another’s musical tradition during a week-long residency in February 2013. The residency programme by British Council and English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) invited a group of UK and Indian folk musicians to collaborate and create compositions reflecting the folk traditions of different regions. What followed the residency was a series of concerts wherein the six artistes took to stage to present the result of their intense jamming — musical notes that describe the heritage and musical traditions of India and UK. The group performed at Celtic Connections and london’s Alchemy Festival at Southbank Centre and now they are on a three-city Indian tour. The group comprising renowned musicians Patsy Reid (Scotland), Hannah James (England), Georgia Ruth (Wales), Saurav Moni (India), Suhail Yusuf Khan (India) and James Mackintosh (Scotland) will perform tomorrow at Kamani Auditorium and will then travel to Shillong and Kolkata.
Suhail, the renowned sarangi player from India, shared that the most encouraging part of this journey is the incredible response they have been receiving from the audience.
“The residency was all about experimenting with different musical instruments and traditions. The audience is pleasantly surprised by how so many diverse instruments and musical traditions gel so wonderfully. For example, we do not see often a baul singer and a harp player together on stage,” said the versatile musician who has been collaborating with different artistes. Suhail has been associated with Advaita. He plays regularly for experimental and world projects like Jazz Aar Philharmonic (Switzerland), Sabri Ensemble (England) and Hum Ensemble (India). He has created jingles and background scores for documentaries, TV and radio commercials. Discoveries were many during the residency. “We found out that though we came from different regions and represented musical traditions, but when it came to musical notes everything was almost similar. For example, a Scottish tune sounded very much like a classical Indian raag to me. All of us were in the process of learning and sharing. Our collective aim was to present our music in a way which did not reflect our personal identities but came out as a united sound of the world,” shared Suhail.
When Suhail was invited to be a part of this programme, he wondered how classical music will be a part of folk festival. But he realised that folk is woven in the fabric of Indian classical music. “Moreover, it was an interesting assignment and I participated with the sole intention of learning,” he added.
The instrument sarangi, as the name suggests, refers to something that can show 100 colours. Suhail explained, “The word sarangi is made of two words — sau meaning hundred and rangi meaning colours. So the instrument is best suited to depict 100 colours of life. Its note can beautifully describe so many emotions. I have collaborated with DJs in the dance clubs and with many genres of music, so notes from sarangi can easily be matched with any genre of music. It is often referred to as a human instrument as any tone is like a complete music without any words.” Suhail is even looking forward to come up with an album with the special pieces that are created as part of his collaboration.
Another Indian artist who is spreading the charm of traditional folk songs from Bengal is Saurav Moni. Saurav’s only intention to be part of the programme was to introduce the world to the rich folk traditions of our country. He said, “Our folk songs seamlessly blend with the global melodies as the lyrics are universal. They talk about nature, day-to-day lives of people and human emotions that are universal.”
Saurav comes from a village in the rural hinterland of West Bengal that borders on Bangladesh and inhabits a part of the Sundarbans, specifically the delta of Hingalganj. Folk traditions like Sari, Jari, Murshidi, Marafti, Bhawaiya and Baul feature in his body of work. Bhatiali is his primary genre of work. “Bhatiali comes from the word bhata that means ebb or downstream in Bangla. Boatmen sing these songs while going down the streams of the river. I tell the tales of the meandering river as it goes from upstream to downstream and the tales involve endless journey of a man on a boat that serves as a typical metaphor of life,” shared Saurav.
The musician hopes that in the future there will be more projects like this so that our folk traditions travel from our villages and are represented on the world stage.