Of Rap, Rock And Ragas, Entertainment - Music - Kolkata Mirror,Kolkata Mirror

By Sunetro Lahiri

Posted On Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 08:19:25 PM

What do you get when you mix heritage Indian music with a dash of modernity, presented on a platter of originality and jugalbandi? You get a new album from the band Friends of Fusion, which was launched at Gyan Manch. Anjan Dutt, Victor Banerjee, Saswata and Bickram Ghosh graced the event, which was followed by a reverberating performance.

The band Friends of Fusion

The band features Neel Dutt on acoustic guitar and nylon string guitar, Rajkumar Sengupta on electric guitar and dotara, Arko’s vocals, Deboprotim on drums and percussions and Bijit on Bass. According to Neel, “It is heritage Indian music in the sound of today. We have merged the bandish with popular beats as we feel that the younger generation has been alienated from the brilliant heritage of Eastern Classical music!”

Fusion, in the Indian milieu, has often attained the form of a rather pejorative word by musical puritans. Replying to this, Arko says, “We always think fusion refers to the Western and the Eastern merging. We have such diversity of musical styles in our country that we can have multiple sub-genres of intra-Indian fusion here itself!”

Working as individuals and as a team, each member of the team had their creative space. Deboprotim said, “None of us are virtuoso artists, but we know how to enjoy what we are doing.” The songs have elements of rock, thumri, blues, hip-hop as well as rap. About his experience in creating music for an ostensibly Indian sound, Deboprotim said, “We had a healthy process of symbiotic sharing in the creative space.”

The album being launched

At the commencement of the concert, Victor, taking jabs at the chief minister’s recent faux pas, said, “I am what one would call a washout, so I don’t think I am the suitable person to open this album. However, despite me not having prepared a speech, I do believe in astronomy!” Speaking of the band, the unusually sprightly Banerjee said, “Here is a band that makes up for what they lack in brains with their phenomenal talent!”

The performances included all the eight tracks from the album. However, what sent the audience in a tizzy were Naino ne jadoo kiya, Alebela sajan and Raat piya. Arko’s vocals with the guitar strums made a heavy impact. In some songs however, Arko’s vocals (especially in the more folksy numbers) and Neel’s guitars tended to overpower the other musical paraphernalia. While in Arko’s case it added to the effect, in Dutt’s case it took away.

The musical performance

Ruchira Bhattacharya, college student, said, “I was very impressed with how the band managed to seamlessly mix Classical and folk so effortlessly. While Arko’s powerful vocals shine through, the percussions and the guitars added the requisite support in creating an affecting musical atmosphere.”

Signing off, Neel Dutt said, “After listening to our performances, all I would request you to do is to buy our album if you liked it and download it if you didn’t like it!”

Photo: Dipanjan Ghosh

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