Ethnomusicologist and TV host Jacob Edgar discusses his show Music Voyager on NDTV Good Times with Shana Maria Verghis. It covers roots and Indie music here. And also goes on the road in Jamaica, louisiana and at the Grammys
Indian episodes on Music Voyager were old. (Asim Chakraborty of Indian Ocean is no longer with us. What was independent music here like thenIJ
Our India episodes were the first we produced for Music Voyager, filmed back in 2009. You are right. Asim Chakraborty passed away suddenly not long afterwards, which was a terrible loss. We could tell when we were there that we were capturing the scene at a time of great transition. In Mumbai, popular artists were making conscious efforts to establish themselves outside the Bollywood factory. like those we featured– Kailash Kher and Sona Mohapatra.
Making mainstream artist-based albums that did not rely on a Bollywood film to support them, was a challenge. Meanwhile, in Delhi we wanted to focus on underground music. Artists outside the mainstream who broke new ground, established loyal followings beyond mainstream media. Or who were taking Indian music in new directions. I feel artists featured, Rabbi Shergill, Papon and East India Company, Indian Ocean and Midival Punditz with Karsh Kale represented this angle. All while maintaining a strong sense of Indian identity. We are looking for artists inspired from local culture.
How did you source people, and whom would you like to coverIJ
I come across most of the artists we featured during research for Putumayo (record label and online store). One of our contacts in Delhi was a music manager named Dhruv Jagasia, then working with Indian Ocean, Midival Punditz and interesting groups in Delhi scene. He suggested Papon and East India Company. Rajasthan was less structured. We followed our ears and connected with local groups like Jaipur Kawa Brass Band, Musafir and other traditional musicians.
I visited Tamil Nadu and Kerala a couple of times. I'm sure there is interesting music. India is such a vast and diverse country, with more going on than we could explore in three 26 minute episodes. Artists I heard recently and enjoy are Swarathma, Amit Trivedi and Raghu Dixit. We would have loved to feature AR Rahman (believe it or not, even after international success with Slumdog Millionaire, Rahman is certainly not a household name in the US). But he wasn't available then. Countless Indian artists living outside are doing cool music in the UK, Toronto, New York and other parts of the diaspora. Pal D, Niraj Chag, Nitin Sawhney, Funkadesi, Delhi 2 Dublin, Kiran Aluwhalia, Bombay Rockers, Telepath, Trickbaby, Bombay Dub Orchestra, Wazulu da Ill Dravidian, Swami, Banani Ghosh, The Bilz and others. Reader’s can post suggestions to the Music Voyager Facebook page.
Did you get lost in IndiaIJ
We didn’t get lost, as you say. We knew going in that we could only touch the tip of the iceberg, and we never pretended to do more then that... Its long been my experience that people most critical of a particular collection are ones who come from the country where the music is sourced. This is natural, because they have deeper understanding of the complexity and range of local music culture. A local might understand lyrics (and could tell they are trite or simplistic) for example, or know the political or social baggage of a particular artist (I love the French singer Carla Bruni, but most French people I know can't stand her because they think of her as the former conservative President's wife). Or consider something outdated because its a few years old and not played on radio.
Your Colombian section is so vast (yeah, I say this accusingly).
This is a perfect example of what I am talking about above. If you ask most Colombians they would respond the same way you have to the India ones. Granted, we were able to produce six episodes on Colombia, as opposed to three in India. That's because the Colombian government and Ministry of Tourism rolled out the red carpet and opened every possible door to portray their country fully. In addition, Colombian musicians generally reflected a desire to promote themselves to the outside world. We were often turning people away that wanted to participate. This was not so in India, where financing came from private sponsors and the government did not get on board. Some musicians we approached didn't see value in promoting themselves to an international audience.
A program like Music Voyager is unique. The main reason is that it is hard to pull off a program with such lofty ambitions, when many TV broadcasters around the world think of international music as targeting a niche audience.
Your episodes on Jamaica and louisiana — did you locate musicians you decided to collaborate with in futureIJ
There have been several musicians I came across during shoots whom I would love to work with someday. In Jamaica, the singer Etana was truly special. (I was only familiar with her badly produced albums and cheesy music videos before our trip).
I’ve reached out a few times, basically begging her to do an album with Cumbancha. But she is focusing on her niche. Artists like Kailash Kher and Idan Raichel from Israel released albums on my label Cumbancha. Others appeared on Putumayo compilations. Trombone Shorty, the virtuoso featured in our New Orleans episode, lent talents to an album produced by the African band Sierra leone’s Refugee All Stars. I stay in touch with many musicians featured. Mostly to keep track of how they are doing. And also help spread the word about their good work to my network.
Give us anecdotes about pre-Grammy episodes. Your encounters with Bela Fleck and others.
The Road to a GRAMMY episodes were filmed in early 2010. They were the result of a unique opportunity presented to Music Voyager’s team by organisers of the Grammy’s. They were intrigued with the concept of the show and invited us to travel the country and meet Grammy-nominated artists in a range of categories. I found them more of a popularity contest, but was happy to dig deeper. Meeting Christopher ‘Tricky’ Stewart, who won the Grammy that year for his work on Beyonce’s hit song, Single ladies (Put a Ring On It) taught me about making a pop music hit.
We were invited to Tricky’s Grammy’s party. I was woefully unprepared in the fashion department, I looked like a total dork compared to starlets in high-fashion. Katy Perry and Russell Brand showed up. As did Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, and the guy who started the Girls Gone Wild soft-porn franchise. I even ran into someone I knew, India.Arie who we filmed for an earlier episode.
There was plenty of plastic surgery and breast implants on display. On the other side of the spectrum, our Road to a GRAMMY series took us to bayous of louisiana where we met Cedric Watson, an accordionist, bucking the trend of peers by devoting himself to Cajun and zydeco music. I’ll never forget being at a funky juke joint by the bayou, standing around a table with tasty Cajun-style crawfish. Cedric stripped to his undershirt so he could dig in without a mess.
(To be continued next week)....