Tabla maestro uses indigenous sounds for his second Bollywood outing as composer
Bickram Ghosh
After scoring music with Sonu Nigam for the National Award-winning film, Jal (2014), tabla maestro Bickram Ghosh is looking forward to his second outing as a composer. For Khajoor Pe Atke, he has used live sounds, which, he believes, is his signature style. Ghosh used indigenous instruments like the sarangi, tabla, harmonium, sitar, shehnai, ektara, dotara, mridangam and manjeera to lend "a refreshing feel to the music in an age of heavy-duty programming".
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Explaining how the Indian instruments seamlessly fit into the universe of the Harsh Chhaya-directed venture, Ghosh says, "The film revolves around small-town characters, so the Indian-ness was necessary. Folk culture is all about modulatory sounds, and proper modulation cannot be brought about through electronic programming. Also, I'm biased towards live sounds. I want the toil and soul of the musician to shine through a film."
The Hindustani classical music artiste reveals that he blended native sounds with that of world percussion instruments — including udu, darboukka, talking drum and frame drums — for the song, Aao Na Dekha. "I also enjoyed composing the item number, Sumdi Mein Jhol. It's raunchy, but is off the beaten track in its melodic content and arrangements," he says. Besides penning the lyrics, Chhaya also went behind the mic at Ghosh's behest. "I got him to sing a tragicomic song, Dhoka, as it needed a fair bit of emoting and he pulled it off."
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