Decade-old musical ensemble The Folk Foundation took the stage at Hard Rock Cafe Kolkata on September 3 and impressed with rich folk numbers from all parts of India. Bangdi from Rajasthan, an Awadhi lokgeet called Reliya, a folk song called Dang re dang from North Bengal, a Rajasthani bhajan Meethe ras, a Kamrupi lokgeet called Shyam Kanu, Jhumur, the band’s original titled E baapu were on the setlist for the evening. As we walked into Hard Rock Cafe, the tunes of folk, the beats of keys, the guitar, and a touch of the modern to age-old folk numbers blended and created a groovy atmosphere. The energy and sentiments of folk numbers are difficult to ignore; rarely would you see a folk song playing and people not tapping their feet or dancing to it.
The members of the band, Tirthankar Tito Majumdar (bassist), Dipannita Acharya (vocalist), Ritoban Ludo Das (drummer), Rohyt Mukherjee (guitarist) and Sudipto Buti Banerjee (keyboardist) said, “We also have Rajkumar Sengupta, who was one of the founding members, back in the band. The journey of The Folk Foundation is taking a new turn with all good and positive energy as TalentWala joins our team.” Rhythm, beats, unbounded energy and a powerful performance defined the night that was at HRC on Park Street. t2 tapped its foot to folksy beats. Snapshots:
"The inclusion of Sudipto Buti Banerjee has enhanced the band’s sound with his brand of ambient electronica. I have worked on ornamenting the songs with some funky guitar lines, riffs, and solos and fused them with the original soundscape of the indigenous folk songs," said the guitarist Rohyt.
“We performed at HRC with our new line-up; we had Sudipto Buti as our new keyboardist, so we all were super excited. The excitement was more because we had also included our own composition E baapu into our setlist. It’s always a different feeling to perform a new original composition," said Dipannita.
"The Folk Foundation completed 10 years so it is all very exciting," expressed Sudipto