Exclusive Premiere: Peepal Tree Offer Perspective with New Music Video ‘Nayi Khushi’

In May, just as the country was fully adjusting to the lockdown, Bengaluru rock band Peepal Tree put together a socially-distanced performance of their Hindi song “Nayi Khushi,” one of their earliest compositions and part of their 2018 debut record Chetana.

In high demand even several years on – it snagged the multi-lingual group a spot at the ABU Radio Song Festival in Yangon in 2015 – Peepal Tree have now released an official music video for “Nayi Khushi.” Vocalist Sujay Harthi says, “People send us messages, stories about how this song connects with them, even helped them during difficult times.” Bassist Praveen Biligiri adds that the song has always been a set staple as well.

The music video brings together slick performance footage from a past, pre-pandemic Peepal Tree show in Bengaluru alongside sourced stock clips of nature, an introspective woman on the beach and shots of their hometown. “We wanted to showcase what ‘Nayi Khushi’ meant, in a way that it connected to a lot of people, the feeling of being carefree and in a happy space in life,” drummer Willy Demoz adds.

This might be the last of album promotions at the moment, considering Peepal Tree are working on the follow up to Chetana (plus their collaborative EP 56001 with composer Sandeep Chowta) and plan to release brand new songs. Guitarist Tony Das mentions that they’re the kind to “thrive on live gigs,” which is what has made them stay away from virtual concerts and livestreams so far. “In fact, we even turned down a couple,” the guitarist says. “We have a full album worth of half-finished songs, so we are keeping ourselves motivated to finish that in the time we have now. The plan is to put out brand new songs regularly till it is safe for venues to open up for gigs and more importantly safe for people to attend them,” Das adds.

Watch the video for “Nayi Khushi” below.