The story so far: A new Hindi album that rocks

Republished from MumbaiBoss Indie folk-fusion singer-songwriter Papon’s new Hindi rock album has a title that’s decidedly inaccurate. The CD, which was launched this Thursday, 12 January, with a gig at Mumbai’s Blue Frog, is called The Story So Far. Except the story is about five years old. Though the album has been ready for release for almost half-a-decade, Papon couldn’t release it until now because he was bound by his old contract with the defunct Phat Phish Records. Fortunately, and surprisingly, the songs don’t sound dated. In fact, The Story So Far is everything you expect a Papon album to be, full of folksy ballads that you can sing along with, and introspective electro-thumri tunes that work just as well as solo listening. The 11 songs were written between the mid-1990s and the mid-noughties, and range from lovelorn ballad “Din Guzrein” — the oldest track on the album and the “first complete song I’ve done,” said Papon — to the drum n’ bass-driven “Aankhen”, the newest song, and the one that’s closest to “where I am today”. In the past couple of years, Papon has become somewhat of the Lil Wayne of the Indian indie world, aka the musician to call when you’re looking for a collaborator who can get the job done with minimum fuss and maximum skill. You’re most likely to have seen him singing hits like “Naina Laagey” and “Banao” at New Delhi-based electronica duo Midival Punditz’s gigs. You may have also seen him on either of those two folk-fusion music TV shows CokeStudio@MTV and The Dewarists, where he jammed with counterparts such as Kailash Kher and Rabbi respectively. Or you may have heard him on one of the handful of Hindi film soundtracks he’s appeared on, including 2004’s Let’s Enjoy and last year’s Dum Maaro Dum, I Am Kalam and Soundtrack. Most recently, he contributed vocals to “Wild Epiphany”, a song on Indian Ocean guitarist Susmit Sen’s debut solo album Depths of the Ocean. He just wrapped up Troikala, a British Council curated album and tour also featuring percussionist Bickram Ghosh and Scottish singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni. [caption id=“attachment_182079” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The cover of Papon’s new album — The Story So Far. Times Music”]  [/caption] The Story So Far, however, is essentially a one-man effort. Papon composed, arranged and produced all the songs, and played the guitar, keyboards and bhor taal (Assamese cymbals) on the album. Among the other instruments he plays are the harmonium, tabla and the Assamese drum known as the khol. In the North-East, Papon isn’t even known as Papon but folk-pop phenomenon Angarag Mahanta, the man behind the hit Assamese albums Jonaki Raatein (Full Moon Night, 2004) and Sinaaki Osinaaki (2009), the latter of which loosely translates into “something familiar yet not familiar”. That phrase, Papon said, aptly describes his work, where the music, based on Bengali and Assamese folk forms such as baul, bhatiyali (songs sung by boatmen), bihu (festival dance music) and borgeet (the devotional music of Assam), is often familiar but reworked with new presentation or production. Papon adopted his performance name in the early 1990s after he moved to New Delhi to study architecture and ended up becoming a musician instead. Back home in Guwahati, Papon had grown up studying Indian classical music and Assamese folk and devotional songs from his parents, both of whom are famous singers in the North-East. A turning point was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s landmark collaborative album with Michael Brook, Night Song. “I’m a huge fan [of Nusrat],” said Papon. “[When I heard] Night Songs, I wanted to create something similar subconsciously.” While much of The Story So Far makes for laid-back listening, a couple of tracks, most notably “Barish Ki Boondein”, feature some blazing classic-rock riffs. “I like the pathos, the edge and angst a guitar can bring out,” said Papon who counts David Gilmour, Frank Zappa, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Eric Johnson among his favourite axemen. Apart from soundtrack work, Papon hasn’t recorded any new Hindi tracks since he finished The Story So Far. He’s been pretty busy with the aforementioned collaborations, plus in addition to releasing Sinaaki Osinaaki, he’s produced two critically acclaimed Assamese folk albums. The next Hindi album, provided no contractual issues come in the way, “will take another couple of years minimum” he said. Meanwhile, The Story So Far offers plenty to hum along to, from the jazzy “Chhoti Chhoti Batein”—Papon recorded the upright bass with a member of the Wellington Jazz Orchestra (another of his one-time collaborators) in New Zealand —to the rustic “Baavle Jharne”, a song where he sounds not unlike Hariharan. Papon says his friends often compare him to the popular ghazal singer. He thinks it’s because “there are not too many male singers with a low voice; every one is singing high.” The Story So Far by Papon, Times Music, Rs149 is out now. Buy it from Flipkart.com. This article by Amit Gurbaxani is republished from MumbaiBoss.com