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Swarathma Team Up With Tribal Artists for Rhythms of the Earth in Jamshedpur

What went down when the seasoned Bengaluru folk-fusion act co-created 14 songs for a new album

Nov 24, 2022

Swarathma on stage with members of different tribes in Jamshedpur

In September 2019, I was sitting inside the cozy auditorium at RCEMPA (Regional Centre for Excellence in Music & Performing Arts) in Kohima, while it poured heavily outside and the roar of the torrential rain could drown out all voices and sound.

On stage, Jishnu Dasgupta was talking about how his band Swarathma at some point realized they had grown into men from boys and were fathers with responsibilities. This also made them realize how these changes were also truths for their fans.

It prompted them to introspect about their style of music, their writing and how they had changed their perspectives. Jishnu’s thoughts resonated with me and I was once again impressed with the maturity of this band. Just minutes back, I had introduced him on stage and I chose not to speak about their music but about their efforts towards social issues and causes. Swarathma is one band whose commitment towards social impact has never wavered.

Cut to November 2022. Last night in Jamshedpur, Swarathma put up a unique performance and live set with musicians from different Indian tribes. It wasn’t just “unique” for their continued foray into fusion or even because it featured colorful, resplendent musicians from various tribes dressed in their traditional attire. There was much more to it.

Under the project Rhythms of the Earth (ROTE) of Tata Steel Foundation, Swarathma co-created 14 songs in various dialects of different tribes from across India. Now, one has to remember these musicians are not full-time musicians. Their livelihood and daily life is way tougher to imagine. Their access to resources and their exposure to the outside world is also limited. For them to write down a new song and tune it is no easy task. Most tribal musicians sing traditional songs and folk tales. Seldom do they write music the way independent artists or pop stars do. 

So it’s worth cheering for the team that took the pains to write many songs on various subjects. It ranged from a dew drop to a grandfather writing about his grandson. From a mother deer’s call for help from the forest to a woman protesting and pleading for her drunk husband to stop beating her, the spectrum of emotion and experience is wide and intimate because the tribal people live much closer to nature. 

Swarathma frontman Vasu Dixit on stage in Jamshedpur.

Swarathma’s producer and guitarist Varun has been able to retain the unique instruments that these tribes play and at least in the live set, you wouldn’t find any of the instrumentation harsh to the ears or a forced fit. Swarathma has left the music and the soul of the songs raw and not overproduced any of the track.

My second cheer goes to the band for mentoring and giving the musicians the confidence to come on such a massive stage and perform in front of thousands of people. I think that journey from their hamlet to this massive stage at Gopal Maidan, popularly known as Regal Maidan, has been possible only because of the confidence and hand-holding imparted by the Swarathma members and associated team members at TSF. 

Each track was unique and they displayed the translations and meaning of the songs on two large screens, giving us insight and context. The song by the Karbi tribe of Assam offered intriguing instrumentation. The track “Chingi Hansong” by the Rabha tribe, also from Assam, was a fluid composition and the flute work by Debaraj Rabha was instantly memorable. 

The winner for me was the song “Methish Kutty” by the Kota tribe from the Nilgiris. I hope I have got the name right here. The drop bass on it by Jishnu sounded fabulous and the song has a difficult meter but Varun has been able to give an amazing groovy and enthralling feel to the entire track. This is a song of the love of a grandfather writing for his grandson.

Swarathma frontman Vasu Dixit gets into the crowd in Jamshedpur.

The song of the Ho tribe was groovy and had many dancing in the crowd. After the concert, I was curious to know from Jishnu about how long the songwriting for these tunes took.  To my surprise, he said it happened over a week in October 2021. This project has been a year in the making and the album should be out digitally in a few weeks.

Given that the album will have 11 dialects and musicians and artists spread across India, it’s quite an achievement.

Here is an incident to make you understand the scale and commitment of everyone involved. Jishnu mentioned that they wanted to do a video call with a couple of artists to discuss some details and when they called the next day at the appointed time, they realized the tribesmen had driven 25 km on a bike to get a phone signal to receive their video call. 

Other artists from the Oraon, Santhal, Kondha, Koya, Warli, Bodo and Jamatia tribes also performed over the evening. The Bhumij artists didn’t perform last night but their track “Judi Jala” will appear on the album. Swarathma performed two tracks in their inimitable style but with a delightful change. They got all the 54 tribal musicians on the stage and they lent vocal and instrumental accompaniment to their two tracks “Kooraane” and “Pyar Ke Rang.” Vasu was in the crowd and got them dancing as he always does. Sanjeev Nayak played a beautiful solo in the song “Bepakuna” by the Kondha tribe artists and Vinay Ramakrishnan behind the drum kit lent beautiful support to the tribal beats and kept things tight. Varun ripped out one guitar solo towards the end of a particular track, but very intelligently kept his riffs to the minimum, not to overshadow any of the sounds of the tribe. 

Musicians involved in the Rhythms of the Earth project take a bow on stage in Jamshedpur.

The journey of growing up and growing older as Jishnu had mentioned in Kohima hasn’t stopped for them. As musicians, they are embarking on new journeys of fulfillment and enrichment for themselves and as a result, their fans get richer with good music.  

I saw some spectators dancing in the Ho style to the song “Sisir Dah” by the Ho tribe and knew right then that this forthcoming album will likely connect with Swarathma fans across the board as well as tribal listeners.

I do pray for its success and reach. These efforts unify people across a broad spectrum of social classes and economic backgrounds. Those commonalities must be drawn out and highlighted so that society and mankind find compelling reasons to come together and rejoice. Art has always been the voice of change. In a fast-changing world, these voices from the earth must be heard.

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