Watch Abhanga Repost Give Sant Tukaram’s Wisdom a Reggae Twist in Sunny ‘Vrukshavalli Amha Soyare’ Video
The song is out ahead of the Marathi band’s performance at Mahindra Roots Festival in Mumbai
Mumbai-based Marathi band Abhanga Repost.
Mumbai-based Marathi indie folk-rock band Abhanga Repost say they’ve created a niche that few others inhabit, which gives them a large audience and that in turn is what is driving performances. “Instead of waiting for a blues/rock music festival to book our performance, we ourselves created an audience and then the curators would have to design an event that goes along with Abhanga Repost,” the band says in a joint email interview.
They’re referring to the Mahindra Roots Festival, where Abhanga Repost will perform on February 25th at Bandra Amphitheater, joining the likes of Raghu Dixit, Jasleen Aulakh, Arko, Tajdar Junaid and Alif, among others. “We’re eager to perform in Mumbai after a long time, especially in an outdoor setting,” the band says. They promise an hour-long set comprising old and new material, from their recent album Vaari and unreleased songs.
Among the new songs are “Vrukshavalli Amha Soyare,” a reggae-tinged tune that adapts the words of Sant Tukaram Maharaj about respecting and preserving nature, lest we see the effects of exploitation. The prescient lyrics about environmental damage notwithstanding, Abhanga Repost shot the music video for “Vrukshavalli Amha Soyare” in the eco-sensitive country of Mauritius, where they recently had their first international tour.
The band performed two shows hosted by local Indian diaspora organizations, including the Just Love Festival. They say it was easy to communicate with the audience, given their closeness to not just Indian languages but also the culture. “It’s always fun to perform in front of an unknown audience,” the band says.
The challenges in promoting (and not to forget, earning a livelihood) from Marathi music as independent artists in India still remain, though. “There were times when people tried to convince us every now and then that how doing stuff in Hindi would also give us more reach, which we partially agree [about] but we never wanted to use it as a tool to cover the shortage of popularity,” the band says. Staying true to their craft even after earning viral fame for “Amhi Bi Ghadlo” and “Pundalik Varde” around 2016, Abhanga Repost say they never started the band to “run in a rat race of trends.”
To that end, the band will continue crafting songs of “peace, love, revolution and devotion” They say, “We are about to record and release our second album this year. We’re looking forward for more tours outside Maharashtra and overseas.”
Abhanga Repost performs at Mahindra Roots Festival on February 25th, at Bandra Amphitheater. Get details here. Watch the video for “Vrukshavalli Amha Soyare” below.
