For 16 days, Sankarshan Kini travelled through non-existent roads that line the eastern border of Arunachal Pradesh, a compact sound recorder in tow. On a commissioned project to document tribal folk songs of the state, Kini visited six tribes, recording century-old tunes, which are fading away. But Kini is no ethnomusicologist. The aim of the endeavour was to get these folk songs a larger audience. However, Kini realised early on that it won’t make much of an impact if he releases them in their pure form.
He made his way back to his Mumbai studio and placed it in familiar aural surroundings. The result is Enchantation, a six-track album that has one folk song by each tribe he visited — Nocte, Nyishi, Monpa, Adi, Wancho and Galo — and these have been juxtaposed with Afro-jazz and electronic music to contemporarise it. “I arrived at different stylistic templates after much thought, but I was clear I wanted to use Afro-jazz on the album. Its rhythms fit in well with the folk tracks,” says Kini, who was influenced by the works of world musicians Karim Ziad, Ali Faka Toure and Tinariwen, for this album.
The blending of genres is effective. The tribes he visited almost never used instruments, and instead their voices acted as rhythmic tools. Take the folk song, Tanko nyone by the Adi tribe, for instance. Kini has used a groovy beat that brings a fullness to the strong vocals of the singer. On Yanlok duanpa by the monks of the Monpa tribe, the meditative voice of the throat singers shifts into a gospel-inspired vocal arrangement sung by indie songstress Vasundhara Vidalur. Kini has produced four tracks and roped in the talents of Donn Bhat of Don Bhatt + Passenger Revelator fame, for the remaining two. Bhat has brought his “tasty electronic music palate” to the album, where he adds a reggae beat to Tham thuth tsai – lailung by the Wancho Tribe and a drum ‘n’ bass vibe to Pemin – nyem nanam by the Nyishi tribe.
On Thursday, the first video of Enchantation — Jahe chole — was released online, giving an insight into the way Nocte tribe dresses and the jewellery they wear, among other characteristics of the tribe. Using people from the Nocte community — 150 extras in all — director Aman Mahajan of Tourbadour Films wanted to place the video where the music originated. The track uses slices of vocal samples of singers from the tribe chanting, layered over polyrhythmic beats.
The behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the video are as intriguing as the track. Shot in May, the compact production team headed to Natun Kheti, a tiny hamlet where the tribe resides. “The song Jahe chole is about the harvest season but we were not in time for that. The tribe believed that it would anger the gods if we ask them to sing and dance to the song,” says Mahajan. So to appease the powers that be, a pig was sacrificed and a feast was held, and only then did the team shoot their video. Kini says, “The experience was overwhelming. They fit in so well into their ecology. The only saddening thing I found is that every house has a television set. They are bombarded with capitalist ideas, which is why the younger generation is not interested in their culture anymore.”
The collaboration came about after a performance by Mumbai-based band Whirling Kalapas last year at the Ziro Festival of Music that is held in Arunachal Pradesh. Kini, who plays a range of string instruments for the band, was invited back to the state by Dr Hatobin Mai, who runs Living Dreams, a charitable trust that documents and promotes the culture of the region. “The album is a first step towards awareness, but I haven’t even scratched the surface. There are so many tribes whom you can meet only after trekking for three days. I hope I can cover them all someday,” says Kini.