What instrument do you play? Everything

The music band Serpents of Pakhangba has an interesting story behind its name Pakhangba refers to the ancient shapeshifting dragon god from a Manipuri tribe Founder of the band Vishal J Singh says that his ancestors have worshipped the deity for centuries The indigenous cultural influence goes beyond the name Singh says the fourmember band is experimental avantgarde theatrical and incorporates Mongolian Tibetan Manipuri symbolism and sounds ldquoThe nature of our band is similar to that of the shapeshifting dragon god It is multi genre jazz neofolk darkfolk futuristic yet ancient using ambient elements black metal death metal anything you can think ofrdquoSingh is part of a growing tribe of musicians who are finding inspiration in film culture and indigenous communitiesKeralabased tribal folk trance music band Shanka Tribe derives its name from shankhShanka Tribe a Keralabased tribalfolk trance outfit derives its name from the conch because some of the band members hold a personal connection with it Thus the band always begins a performance by blowing the shankh displaying the Indian belief that it has a cleansing and spiritual effect and radiates positivitySerpents of Pakhangba too say that they try and connect with the audience on a spiritual level While most of their music is instrumental and includes ancient Manipuri chants and hymns they also recently incorporate something called lsquolight languagersquo Tanushree lsquoShreersquo Saha the vocalist uses this language which is increasingly being used by healers and those who practise chanting ldquoPeople who channel from other systems starsolar systems basically channel light language Itrsquos possible that somebody might be able to connect with the person without even knowing whatrsquos being said Itrsquos an energy based transactionrdquo she explains Emotions and expressions play an important role in the bandrsquos music Singh says the audience might not understand the words but they can connect with the expression and thatrsquos part of the theatrical performance along with elaborate headgears and costumes the band uses during live performances They study the crowd making no two live performances the sameBoombay Djembe Folas play West African tribal folk music infused with their own soundBoombay Djembe Folas play West African tribal folk music infused with their own sound Most of their music is instrumental and percussive but they have a few songs in Djoula the most widely spread languages spoken in West Africa The band has performed at prestigious festivals NH7 Weekender Lil Flea VH1 Supersonic Control Alt Del and Goa Unsplash and what Anand Bhagat its founder has noticed is that ldquothe Hindi bracket is quite huge but the audiences also seem quite keen and interested in our kind of musicrdquo They make sure their sound is groovy and a little psychedelic sometimes The biggest concern according to Bhagat who is also the only Indian to play the balafon a wooden xylophone is maintaining these instruments The band uses the djembe a West African goblet shaped drum dununs West African instrument similar to a dhol the balafon the guitar and violin ldquoThe Balafon is not available in India We have proper west African djembes and the dununs drums we got made in Indiardquo says Bhagat Shanka Tribe who has also had to ship some instruments from other countries use the didgeridoo a long wind instrument oud pearshaped fretless string instrument murchang traditional Nepali instrument percussive instruments like the djembe darbuka congo and timbale the synthesizer and handpanldquoThe downside of using so many varied instruments is that travelling with them is a bother We canrsquot travel all that much The soundcheck takes a lot of time toordquo says Bonny Abraham the lead guitarist and oud player Singh who has also experimented with the valiha a string instrument from Madagascar pena a Manipuri instrument tank drums kazoo a mouthpeice and the erhu a Chinese instrument says travelling with a full band is a challenge but an audience for this varied music exists nudging the group some more into bringing on board new instruments