Hear Mumbai’s Folk Masti Craft Whimsical Rock on ‘Jadoo Ki Chhadi’

On their debut album Jadoo Ki Chhadi, Mumbai folk rock band Folk Masti offer everything from zany advice like “Life is crazy, bano angrezi” to loving the nonstop hustle of Mumbai and renditions of traditional poetry by the likes of saint-poet Kabir and Gujarati poet Narsinh Mehta.

In their musings on modern life (“Life Is Crazy”) and being thankful for their place in life (“Jadoo Ki Chhadi”), there’s friendly folk rock explorations. Performing across India at intimate shows as well as club venues, Folk Masti’s sing-along staples such as “Maya Re Lagi” and “Rundunana Re” are accurately fun-filled, while “Kabir Ki Vani” and “Aamchi Mumbai” explore a hint of acoustic and country influences. “It was a completely different experience to capture the same energy in the studio but it was fun too, because we have experimented a lot in terms of sound,” frontman Vipul Panchal says, citing an example of a bicycle ring that’s used in “Life Is Crazy.”

In the works for many years, the album released last month even as a crowdfunding campaign to cover production costs was ongoing. Folk Masti raised ₹1.72 lakh of their goal of ₹4.5 lakh. Although the campaign wasn’t fully successful, frontman and founder Vipul Panchal is glad they took the crowdfunding route. He says, “Music is also social service as it’s an entertainment for all of us. Music supports you during the bad and good times of our life, so people should stand and support as much as they can.”

Panchal and the band could have as well reneged and taken a loan to fund their album, but he says by crowdfunding, they gained supporters who are invested in their music. He offers advice and says, “If any band is planning to do crowdfunding, know that each and every band member has to push the funding campaign to raise funds and we don’t judge anyone for not giving us money. Even ₹100 counts too. We have received money ranging from ₹100 to ₹15,000 in our project.”

Starting later this week, the band heads out on a 10-city tour courtesy of art community Motojojo. Stops include Mumbai and Pune, but also cities such as Nashik, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Indore, Bhopal and Nagpur. Panchal adds about the rest of the year, “In 2020, we want to do music videos of our album tracks. There might be one more project. We’ll be playing some amazing music festivals and may be doing our first international tour too.”

Stream ‘Jadoo Ki Chhadi’ below and more platforms here.

Motojojo Ghumakkadi Kalakaar —Folk Masti Tour 2020 (get tickets here)

February 7th – Mumbai

February 8th – Pune,

February 9th – Nashik

February 14th – Ahmedabad

February 15th – Vadodara

February 16th – Surat

February 21st – Indore

February 22nd – Bhopal

February 23rd – Nagpur