Kapil Seshasayee Gives a Psychedelic Twist to ‘The Ballad of Bant Singh’ in New Live Video

Among the live favorites for Indian-origin artist Kapil Seshasayee is “The Ballad of Bant Singh,” a trippy song off his socio-politically conscious debut album A Sacred Bore from 2018. Even as his 2022 album Laal gained steam, a recorded performance for BBC Radio Scotland in 2019 of the “old fave” continued garnering attention.

Since the release of Laal, Seshasayee has taken the song to several stages around Europe and the U.K., even opening for Tuareg group Tinariwen. Now, Seshasayee has released the live version of “The Ballad of Bant Singh,” giving it a psychedelic yet R&B kind of edge, along with a generous helping of shimmering synth lines and more.

Seshasayee and drummer Edwin McLachlan perform the song with an urgency and precision that can perhaps only come from performing live for so many years, including most recently at a show supporting electronic fusion stalwart and tabla artist-producer Talvin Singh.

Seshasayee says about the song and releasing a live version, “I’d gone from touring with just a laptop and a guitar to having a full band with me at all times (often featuring two drummers and my wife on flute and keys). Whether I was supporting Tinariwen or playing the Roundhouse, the reworked version of that song has always made an impression but I never had an answer for when fans asked where they could hear it in its new iteration on record, until now that is. Bant Singh’s story is no less relevant than when I originally penned the song and I’ll be playing it for as long as we need to be having conversations about the horrors of the Indian caste system.”

The artist added in his statement that performing material from both albums was part of drawing the audience in different ways, even as they reconstructed songs. “Laal exists to charm you into engaging with its politics by drawing you in on groove alone – any older songs we played all needed reworked into the lush R&B of my latest record for live sets and (fan favorite from my debut) “The Ballad of Bant Singh” is no exception,” he says.

Watch the video for ‘The Ballad of Bant Singh’ below.