Trippin in search of sound

FROM ISSUE # 199 (July 2012) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Meet Sneha Khanwalkar. Music director. Traveller. Breaker of stereotypes. One of the youngest composers in the industry, Sneha moved from her hometown Indore to the city of dreams, Mumbai to pursue her passion for music. Once here, she dabbled with everything for a while. Starting with animation and moving on to art direction, Sneha soon realised that music was her true calling and has not looked back since then.

Sneha's biggest USP is her unique style of making music. For instance, she backpacked across Punjab and Haryana in search of that perfect, authentic Punjabi tune. And once she found it, she gave it her inimitable, contemporary stamp. This is how cult tracks like Superchor, Jugni & Oye Lucky were born.

She entered Bollywood to make music for people to enjoy the beats of her music. She debuted as a music director in Ram Gopal Verma's Go. After a successful start, she became a full-fledged music director. She is also sponsible for the music of Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye and 2010's surprise hit Love Sex Aur Dhokha.

 Currently Sneha is busy with Intel MTV Sound Trippin project. The program, in partnership with Woodland, will see Sneha venturing boldly into lesser-known India, backpack and recorder in tow, in relentless pursuit of authentic sound.

Why sound? Because nothing captures the essence of a location or a community better than its local sounds. The sound of local trains in Mumbai or the tractors in Punjab, are an authentic slice of life as it exists there. And these sounds give us a pure, untainted glimpse into that community and their lives.

While most of us can only hear the noise in these sounds, Sneha can hear the music. Finding that gushing stream, a mother's lullaby, the persistent thumping of a tractor, the tinkling bells on a bull, even the rhythmic swishing of a broom will form the first layer of her journey and the base of her track. Discovering hidden local talents and Sneha's interactions with them will add the next layer. The final element, which will also add to the richness of the narrative, will be the showcasing of art forms like song, dance and theatre by the locals themselves. Sneha will then use stunning visuals and authentic sounds from her cross-country travels to create a brand new track and unearth a quirky side of India.

Here are some locations Sneha and her team will visit this season:
•  Yellapur, Karnataka: a 200 plus-year-old settlement of Africans, who've adapted the Kannada-Marathi-Tulu language, dressing & way of life. What has stayed behind though, is their inimitable sense of rhythm.
•  Kila Raipur, Punjab: the location of rural Olympics, a three day rural sports festival that's grown over six decades, to become a sports bonanza that attracts competitors from around the globe. 

ANOTHER BHEDA KO OON PLEASE

Bhrikuti Rai

I had had enough of the never ending cycle of scripted reality shows, sappy serials and overdose of dubbed South Indian movies and was ready to end my long-term relationship with TV. But then Sound Trippin appeared on MTV India. I took it as a sign from bhagwan to give our relationship one last shot.

Sound Trippin is a breath (and sound) of fresh air for all idiot box lovers like me, who were sick of watching crappy TV. It's a show that explores the sounds, culture and quirks of neighbouring India and moulds the experience into a song that surprisingly has left me Tung Tung Tung (The first episode from Punjab produced a song called Tung Tung). 

It's amazing how local, everyday sounds from the tinkering of bells to roaring start of a truck can be incorporated into a wonderful melody. As the show's host Sneha Khanwalkar, a talented musician, traverses through the western state, she magically weaves the endearing Tung Tung melody with raw Punjabi flavours. Towards the end of the show, I looked at my brother who was still bobbing his head to Tung Tung, and took a quick trip down memory lane.

I was still in school when Deepesh Kishor Bhattarai's Bheda Ko Oon Jasto conquered Nepal's airwaves and television channels. Then came the rock version by Nepathya. Since remix was the 'in thing' back then, I assumed Nepathya remixed Bhattarai's original number. It was only later when I watched the widely-acclaimed documentary 'Bheda Ko Oon Jasto', that I realised the pop and rock renditions were inspired from a folk tune shepherds sing in the high mountains below Langtang region. The documentary managed to further popularise both Bhattarai and Nepathya songs.

Almost eight years after the documentary and Bhedo Ko Oon Jasto, watching and listening to Sound Trippin made me realise that we, Nepalis failed to take the journey further.

No one else bothered to look for another song, another tune, another sight and sound that could have given Tung Tung a competition.

While MTV India has ventured out in search sounds in a country that could very well be a continent in its own right, we deshbhakta Nepalis still hesitate to explore beyond our cities, our towns, our villages. If only the metal heads, pop heads, Bollywood fanatics dared to go beyond the malls, beyond Bhrikuti mandap's fun park, beyond Hari Siddhi and beyond Kirtipur, we could have a different ghin taak to dance to after all these years.

So until we have another exploration team like Bheda Ko Oon Jasto, Sound Trippin will keep me inspired and keep my passions burning for the idiot box.