Aswekeepsearching and Assamese Artist Shankuraj Konwar Team Up for Emphatic New Song ‘Ovotaar’

In March this year, Assamese singer-songwriter and keyboardist Shankuraj Konwar was announced as a special guest for post-rock band Aswekeepsearching’s set at event series Fusefest in Guwahati. Following the first-ever performance of their collaboration “Ovotaar,” the vibrant, mystical track gets an official release this we`ek via record label No Binary.

Konwar, an established modern pop voice in Assam known for songs like “Alakananda” and “Lorali,” amongst others, recalled during an Instagram live chat with Aswekeepsearching about their connections. “I’ve been listening to Aswekeepsearching for at least a couple of years now. Maybe it was my friends’ wish and my wish as well to collaborate with them,” he said.

Ahead of the planned performance earlier this year, when Aswekeepsearching frontman’s Uddipan Sarmah and Konwar spoke over the phone for the first time, they felt like they’d known each other for years. Konwar said, “He’s also from Jorhat and found we happened to be neighbors […] the song came much later. The beautiful part of this journey is the friendship we’ve nourished. I believe it’s going to go a long way.”

The sprawling track “Ovotaar” unfolds in a familiar fashion suited to Aswekeepsearching songs but adds more buoyancy than ever before, plus Konwar’s distinctive vocals. Sarmah’s vocals appear toward the end, in unison. “Lyrically, ‘Ovotaar’ speaks of a protagonist, praying to the almighty to revisit the human realm in the form of an avatar and purge all darkness and chaos therein,” the artists say in a statement.

Konwar explained his concept for the track further in a post online, outlining the philosophical thought behind it. “There is an ‘Ovotaar’ in every one of us, hidden somewhere, waiting to be called upon and resurrected. It’s a form higher than our present self, more aware and more enlightened. There is more wisdom buried in our selves which is deeper than any other philosophy. We are just bridges connecting the beast from the overman,” he says.

Listen to “Ovotaar” below. Stream the song on more platforms here.