Experimental. That’s the first word that comes to mind when listening to Ulto Kotha Koi, the latest music album by Sahana Bajpaie and Samantak Sinha. The six-song album is an eclectic mix of Rabindranath Tagore’s songs, including compositions like E porobashe robe ke, Bhalo manush noi re mora, Khorobayu boy bege among others.
Ulto Kotha Koi has been arranged and produced by Samantak, and according to Sahana, who credits him with the conceptualisation, “his music and sound production degree at the London School of Sound came in handy”. Anindit Roy is behind the mix and master part of the album. What also catches one’s attention is the use of animations — done by Shinjan Neogi — for visual storytelling.
My Kolkata had a chat with the duo about their latest release. Excerpts follow.
MK: How did you come up with the concept of the album?
Sahana: Samantak came up with it during the pandemic.
Samantak: The concept came to my mind in 2020. I think LoFi or EDM, a genre that I also like, has had a huge base of listeners among youngsters for the last few years. Whenever I get time, I listen to music of various genres and try to study them. Even if I don’t understand it, I listen to it just because I enjoy it. I thought about what would be the result of blending loFi or EDM with our Indian music and Rabindranather gaan? That is how, after some trial and error, the songs came into being.
What was the thought process behind choosing these particular songs?
Sahana: I guess most of these songs appeal to us in ways others do not. There is a lyrically and musically haunting element in most of them. We hardly get to sing Rabindranath’s Dhrupadanga songs in our concerts.
Hence, we chose songs that speak to us on deeper notes.
Samantak: Some are Sahana’s favourite and some are mine. We made a list and I thought I would try a particular form of music on a specific song, and see the outcome. There are a few Dhrupadanger gaan, mukto chander gaan like E parobase, and kheyal which is Dake bare bare.
Why a new rendition of Rabindrasangeet?
Sahana: I don’t think the renditions of the songs are new at all; they are sung as the swaralipi mandates; no liberty is required to be taken there. But the sound of the album is new, unique and has never been done before in the history of Rabindrasangeet productions.
Samantak: I don’t know if the rendition is new. The way I learnt or heard the songs, I have tried to follow the same singing pattern, following the swaralipi. Sahana has also done the same. But for the music of these songs, I thought we could try out a few things. So, I have tried to push the music as much as I could, trying things that came to me, especially LoFi, EDM with the fusion of Indian instruments. Perhaps, what can be called new is the musicscape, something that has not been used in Rabindrasangeet before.
How did the thought of using Western musical instruments in the album occur to you?
Samantak: When I arrange music whether for my own work or for Sahana’s, the use of Western music has always been there. There is always a balance — with western musical instruments, there is always the use of Indian instruments, and that balance is very important to me. The same has happened this time, too. Since the stress has been more on LoFi and EDM, western instruments have been used a little bit more than the Indian ones. I feel that some of Rabindranath’s songs have a Western sound already, including some compositions in this album so the Western musical instruments rendered well to the songs.
What are the Western music styles you have used or taken inspiration from?
Samantak: LoFi, EDM, psychedelic music, rock and Indian classical music influences can be found in the album. Other than that, the original format of Rabinanth’s songs — the use of esraj, pakhawaj — those can also be found.
How is Ulto Kotha Koi different from the other Rabindrasangeet albums you have done so far?
Sahana: This is our second Rabindrasangeet album after seven years — after Ja Bolo Tai Bolo. We have worked on several single projects on the genre as well. I guess there is a clear departure from what we did before. We hardly used produced music before, all the instruments were played and recorded and we did not choose to put produced soundscape.
But I guess there was a need for it in this album to complement the songs, their lyrics, the environment they create with an atmospheric soundscape.
Samantak: The other albums had an Eastern-Western fusion in a different way — I used a lot of acoustic instruments. But this time, I have focused more on the soundscape — psychedelic music, electronic music — and I have played many of the instruments myself this time. In the other albums, I did the arrangements and our fellow musicians played the instruments, but Ulto Kotha Koi can be called a homegrown album in that sense. That is the difference.
Ei parobase has the sound element of waves. What was the thought behind using something like this? Are there any other such sound elements that you have incorporated through the album?
Samantak: Tension, confusion, seclusion, peril — I have tried to convey that through the sound of waves. The blank space used is to build the ambience of the song, to create silence, something that I find in the sound of the waves. This is entirely my interpretation, and hence was used in the song.
The incorporation of Western music with Rabindrasangeet hasn’t always been received well. Are you anticipating criticism?
Sahana: We have used LoFi and EDM elements on this album. The inspiration came from Rohini (my daughter) and her friends and the kind of music pre-teens and teenagers listen to nowadays.
A lot of committed Rabindrasangeet listeners might not be familiar with the sound because these are not genres they usually listen to. But our friend yesterday called me, who is a father of a teenager and told us how he got the sound and how his daughter — someone who does not generally listen to Rabindrasangeet — was ecstatic about an album with a familiar soundscape.
Criticism will always be there. As long as they are informed and constructive it is great.
Samantak is used to it from his Gaaner Opaare days where he was just song-acting for a particular character and was publicly flogged by all and sundry for distorting Rabindrasangeet. As far I know he doesn’t really pay much heed to such noise.
As for me, this album caters to our children. If they like it, dance to it, sway to it, that’s enough.
Samantak: It is possible that some people will not like the use of Western music with Tagore songs, but several people like the compositions too. If we see the kind of work other artists, including us, have done on Tagore songs in the last 10 years, many have showered love — they have tried to listen to the songs, to follow what we were trying to do.
About criticism, I have been facing that since Gaaner Oparey. I sang for the character Gora, the way I was directed to sing. Back in the time, while many disliked it, I also received appreciation from many people who are Rabindrasangeet premi. To me, what I intend to do and express is important.
What is the USP of the Sahana-Samantak duo?
Sahana: USP haha! I guess we have been one of the first duo acts in the Bangla music scene who started doing gigs together (as a duo) for the last 10 years. Since we have worked together on so many projects for over a decade and there is a natural musical bond between us — we have similar tastes in the music we listen to — which adds to the act.
Samantak: We listen to similar music, but there is a wide difference too and that helps us to cover a larger spectrum. We can, thus, perform more songs and bring other musical influences in our productions, which is probably the USP of the Sahana and Samantak duo.
Which of the numbers from Ulto Kotha Koi are closest to your heart or stand out for you?
Sahana: My favourites are E parabase and Kharabayu.
Samantak: Gobhiro rajoni namilo hridoye, Kharabayu and Dake bar bar dake.
