At the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong announced that it
was ‘one giant leap for mankind’. In a more earthly sphere, Banglanatak dot com
has perhaps taken one giant leap for music-kind. The initiative has made waves,
yet again; this time, for its recent launch of the latest collaborative album
by the group: Ganga Zuari.
East West Local, MusiCal’s very first collaborative venture,
brought to the world the genre of ‘Trans Bangla’. Their next project between
the musicians of Bengal and its next-door neighbour, Bangladesh, ‘Road to
Music’ was just as successful. However, in sync with the Directorate of Art and
Culture, MusiCal and Herald Group, the latest venture, ‘Ganga Zuari’, is the
newest talking point on the block. Essentially a Bengali Konkani folk fusion
music album, it is in the words of Amitava Bhattacharya, Founder Director of
Banglanatak dot com, a Bengali Konkani folk fusion music project presented by
musicians of Goa and Bengal, all the while singing a host of Konkani and
Bengali folk songs. “After having earlier collaborated on East West Local, we
were in search of Goan artistes with telling Konkani voices. That is where the
Herald Group venture, ‘Goencho Avaz’, came into play. We picked the top ten
singers in our opinion, from which we went on to shortlist three, who lent
their talent to the production.”
The Ganga Zuari folk music album which comprises nine songs (four
in Konkani and four in Bengali with one fusion track) was especially released
at the World Music Expo (WOMEX) 2015, held in Budapest in the month of October.
The album will now be played across the airwaves of 46 European radio stations
that are attached to the world music charts. The expectation is that this will
aid in reaching out to listeners of world music and will also open up further
opportunities for Konkani folk musicians.
Which brings us to precisely what the issue with the current
state of affairs is, according to Amitava. “A project of this magnitude should
highlight, in my opinion, the sheer potential of the genre that is Konkani
folk, an area that we believe has failed to attract the younger generation of
Goan musicians. That is where Ganga Zuari has given things a push, and I
believe that with its release at a platform as large as WOMEX, local musicians
will realise its massive potential,” he says.
The future is one that remains to be seen, and one that fans
of the projects thus far await with bated breath, as the collaborations keep
getting better, and certainly bigger.
