Paddy Fields 2018: In its third edition, the fest offers perfect representation of India’s musical heritage

India’s first and only folk and fusion music festival, Paddy Fields, returns for its third edition, this time weaving the intricate form of jugalbandi through its lineup. Over 6-7 October, a host of acclaimed folk and contemporary musicians will go back to their roots, draw inspiration from their cultural backgrounds and collaborate with seemingly dissimilar artists with whom they share the joy of storytelling through music. Jugalbandi, a musical structure that is common in classical music, finds prominence at Paddy Fields this year, where classical exponents and folk legends unite to create music for an audience largely disconnected from its regional roots. The Rajasthani jugalbandi will see Mohan veena creator and Grammy-winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt sharing the stage with Manganiyar vocalist Anwer Khan; the Kashmiri folk collaboration will unite santoor player Rahul Sharma and vocalist Gulzar Ghanie, while the Awadhi jugalbandi will merge the sounds of Ustad Shujaat Khan’s sitar with Malini Awasthi’s vocals. Even Bollywood composers and music directors such as Amit Trivedi and Shantanu Moitra will retrace their regional roots with special sets over two days. While Amit will draw from regional songs in his setlist, Shantanu will helm a group of musicians that will play music from the Himalayas. London-based Deepa Nair Rasiya’s set will see Sufi and Bhakti music jostling for space, while theatre personality Roysten Abel will lead Manganiyar children from Rajasthan in the Manganiyar Classroom. Giving the two-day event a truly festive finish will be noted pianist Merlin D’Souza, whose ensemble will perform Goan tunes that we’re both familiar and unfamiliar with. [caption id=“attachment_5326711” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The line-up for Paddy Fields 2018[/caption] With such varied talent congregating at a folk and fusion festival, now might be a good time to really understand the relevance and role of folk music to a largely urbane audience that’s growing up in a world where the laptop is becoming a musical instrument. “We all have some folk in us. We have been raised with some folk songs or the other. Today it might seem like it is something of the past, but it really isn’t. When we look back at our younger years, we would’ve certainly been exposed to some kind of folk music either during festivals, family functions or such occasions. A festival like Paddy Fields works well in tapping our curiosity of our past and taking us on this journey to understand it through our present,” says Roysten Abel of Manganiyar Classroom fame. A common lament about listening to folk has been the inability to understand what is being sung. Language barriers often come in the way of comprehending folk music, a genre steeped in telling a tale and where musical instruments only aid the narrative process. Says Merlin D’souza who will lead an ensemble through Goan folk tunes, “Music is a great leveller. Particularly folk music because you can’t help but dance to the songs. Goan music has this very carnivalesque vibe to it although not all of it is so celebratory. Someone is singing about the government grabbing their land, someone else about their husband in Portugal or about water shortages… every folk singer has a story to tell.” With storytelling being the core of folk music, one can’t be blamed to think that fusion might just end up robbing the genre of its soul. If that is one worry, then the inability to reach out to newer audiences also runs the risk of restricting its audience. The germination of Paddy Fields is the product of this conundrum. How does one take the rich but dwindling legacy of various Indian regions and showcase it to an audience that is curious about new music? “We recognised that there is a set of people who enjoy folk music but don’t get much access to it. By that I mean that there weren’t so many folk concerts happening in Mumbai, and often people felt alienated by their inability to understand the language or the context. We decided to repackage (for want of a better word) typical folk music by using fusion as a vehicle to get to it. Fusion opens up the horizon to a variety of contemporary arrangements and structures, giving audiences a chance to enter this world despite not having any idea of it. There’s also this notion that folk music is ‘old people’s music’. Folk fusion makes the sound more current and at every stage ensures that the nucleus of the folk genre remains intact,” says Anupama Bhalla, vice-president, sales & marketing, Nesco. Nesco is the curator and organiser of Paddy Fields. While the music and the audience remain the focus of the festival, within three years since inception, Paddy Fields is gaining a reputation of being a musician’s festival too. That would in part explain why classical and folk heavyweights are sharing the lineup with Bollywood bigwigs. Bhalla admits that Bollywood names assist in increasing the footfalls, though an opportunity to perform at Paddy Fields takes them away from their core fanbase. “Amit Trivedi is such a big Bollywood name today. But folk music is a large part of his music foundation. Performing at Paddy Fields gives him a chance to work towards a show that he hasn’t done in a long time. It’s the same case with Shantanu Moitra, whose Bollywood music has often borrowed from his folksy roots. It gives them a break from their commercial work and a chance to reach out to different kinds of listeners,” she adds. Folk and fusion are on equal footing at Paddy Fields. Taking traditional music to contemporary audiences without alienating them is a feat in itself. With fusion as the catalyst, there is also the risk of the music getting caught in the cliched trappings of the genre. It is here that Paddy Fields’ curation plays a critical role. Roysten believes that fusion is serious business and there are far too many elements that need to align for musical combustion to take place. “Just like jugalbandi, fusion too has many aspects that directly play to the gallery. If we keep that aside, we’ll understand that one needs to have a great deal of respect and love for a specific genre to want to fuse it with another one. And then you work out various permutations and combinations until they fit together seamlessly, even while holding their own individually,” he adds. For Merlin though, who considers herself a “daughter of the soil”, technically merging folk with other genres is easy. Given the simple nature of folk itself, embellishing it with newer arrangements is a simple process because the intrinsic grammar of melody and rhythm is uncomplicated. “You have to give it a subtle feel without overcrowding it. The trick is to keep it simple. And if you’re honest with the music, you’ll be honest on stage.” With collaboration being at the heart of Paddy Fields this year, the festival itself is a jugalbandi of sounds and cultures… a perfect representation of India’s staggering musical heritage. Over 6-7 October At Nesco, Goregaon