Folk Studio is a treasure-house of ten eternally cherished songs fetched up from the stream of folk music of Bengal and Bangladesh. In this collection, it would be taking a ride of mesmerizing compositions of such cult composers as Lalan Fakir and Hason Raja, Radharaman Dutta and also of the other compositions, the anonymous ones that have come down to us down the ages orally.
This album is a kaleidoscope of diverse folk songs of different genres ranging from Jhumura to Kirtananga,from Bhawaiya to Bhatiyali, got released in presence of Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Debajyoti Mishra, Babu Fakir, Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Sudarshan Chakravorty, Saheb Chatterjee at Starmark (Quest Mall) on 19th January, 2017.
Mithu Monfokira has lent her voice for the songs of Folk Studio. She is a very familiar name in the jargon of folk singing both here and in Bangladesh. She is the lead vocalist of the folk fusion band Monfokira of which she is also a founder-member. She is also the lead vocalist of the well-known Bangladeshi folk band Sohojiya. Interestingly, one of her musical motifs is to archive and re-create the almost long-lost folk songs which she has found in remote regions of two Bengals.
In this, she has constantly got the amicable support of her husband Dr. Bhaskar Chaudhuri who is also a professor of Bengali literature and the co-founder and vocalist of Monfokira. As a significant folk singer of our time, Mithu has performed at a number of concerts with Debajyoti Mishra.Besides, we can have a glimpse of her magical voice in Kamaleshwar Mukherjee’s films like Kshoto and Mukhomukhi.
The ten scintillating songs of Folk Studio have been musically designed by Debajyoti Mishra, one of the most prominent music composers of our time. Folk Studio is the first folk album designed by him. We have already tasted the unique flavours of his music in films like Chokher Bali,Meghe Dhaka Tara and Arshinagar.
For a long time, he had been showing his interest in making a full-fledged folk album with Mithu Monfokira.The uniqueness of this album is that Mishra has fused here in the songs the essence of musical instruments like Santhali Madal with western Drums, flute with Saxophone and Guitar with Mandolin. And more importantly, this fusion has, in no way, distorted the true essence of the songs. The way he has done it is an absolute indicative of his learnedness and refined taste for music.
This album beyond anything aims at rendering the folk music with a newer sophistication to the global audience as well as the Indian audience. Even in the album itself, an international musician, Maarten Visser (Saxophone) has worked alongside the Indian musicians. Keeping all this in mind a very brief introduction to the songs are available here- SHUKNA BANSHER BANSHARI – A Jhumura song written in Jharkhandi dialect. This pastoral song depicts the dotage of Radha-Krishna,the archetypes of Indian Romantic love.This song tells how Radha is drawn to Krishna by his enchanting Banshari(the flute) even after facing so much obstacles of society.
HAOWA DOMEY DEKHO RE-Written by Lalan Fakir,this song symbolically speaks of the first tinge of life inside the womb of a mother. Alongwith,this song aspires to catch the mysticism of the genesis of this universe. NISHA LAGILO RE – cult folk mahajan Hason Raja has tried to arrest the melancholia of love in this song. Hason has romanticized his own imaginery death in the darkness of Piyari’s (his beloved’s) eyes. CHIRODIN KANCHA BANSHE – Lalan, in this song, has told of the temporal nature of our body, life and everything around through the metaphors of bird as the soul and cage as the body. CHANDER GAYE CHAND LEGECHHE – in this song Lalan has been very esoteric to impart the rituals of body – worshiping, known as ‘Sahaj Sadhana’. This song further explicates the aspiration to reach the flight of accenture from the maya of this mundane universe, in a mood of conundrum. BANAILO BANAILO RE BAULA – pervaded with a mood of ecstasy, this song is a celebration by Hason Raja on finding his absolute Divine Providence.
KALA RE KOIRO GO MANA – in this Bichchhedi Dhamail song,hapless Radha,after a nightful of wait for her extra-nuptial lover Krishna is complaining to her Sakhi. SONA DIYA BANDHAIYACHHI – this song of Noukabawa has essayed existentialist crisis of the materialist human life through the metaphor of a lone sailor within a drowning boat. KRISHNA PREME PORA DEHO – in this song composed in the mood of Kirtan, Radha is bemoaning Krishna’s departure for Mathura(the episode being known as Mathur phase.TORSA NADIR UTHAL-PATHAL-This is a Bhawaiya song hailing chiefly from the ambiance of North Bengal.In this song, a female’s restless heart-throbbing for an emigrant male has been compared to the waves of river Torsa.
