Following his debut album A Sacred Bore, Scottish-Indian artiste Kapil Seshasayee made a shift from his industrial-indie towards an R&B-meets-Indian-Classical crossover on second album Laal which came out last year. A bold concept album about Bollywood tackling themes of nationalism, censorship and disability rights - the sonic progressions, we are told, demanded a new approach to playing live.
Seshasayee says, “I’d gone from touring with just a laptop and a guitar to having a full band with me at all times (often featuring two drummers and my wife on flute and keys). Laal exists to charm you into engaging with its politics by drawing you in on groove alone - any older songs we played all needed to be reworked into the lush R&B of my latest record for live sets and (fan favourite from my debut) The Ballad of Bant Singh is no exception. Whether I was supporting Tinariwen or playing the Roundhouse, the reworked version of that song has always made an impression but I never had an answer for when fans asked where they could hear it in its new iteration on record, until now that is. Bant Singh’s story is no less relevant than when I originally penned the song and I’ll be playing it for as long as we need to be having conversations about the horrors of the Indian caste system.” Excerpts from the interview:
For folks who are new to your music, what is The Ballad of Bant Singh about?
The Ballad of Bant Singh is a song celebrating the incredible bravery of Punjabi protest singer Bant Singh and his fight against the Indian caste system. He made history when he defeated upper caste abusers in court back in the early 2000s when they assaulted his daughter but they retaliated and attacked him in a violent way which left him without the use of his limbs. You'd think that this would deter his activism but he continues fighting the caste system from a wheelchair.
And what inspired it?
I was researching caste for my first record A Sacred Bore which is a concept album about casteism when I came across the book of the same name by Nirupama Dutt. I was so inspired by Bant's story and Dutt's writing that I named the song after the book.
Tell us about how different the treatment of this track is compared to the original.
This version of The Ballad of Bant Singh was originally devised for live performance alongside the lush synth-laden R&B of my latest LP Laal. I'm proud of the original iteration of the song but it's experimental sound textures didn't flow as well as part of the live set so we worked in loads of Prophet synthesisers, granulated electronic textures evocative of producers like Arca and the sort of 808 drum machines you'd find on the records of artists like Solange or Frank Ocean. Fans frequently asked when I'd be releasing this version of the song so I thought it was time I finally did so!
What have you been working on lately? Is album number three in the works?
I've already written a lot of album three but I'll be taking my time releasing it because I'd like to find the best home for it first. Don't worry about me not releasing any music before that however as I've gotten a number of remixes and standalone singles planned for the summer.
Or collabs that are underway...
I've gotten very into remixes with my latest album Laal with recent works dropping from members of high profile South Asian DJ Collective Daytimers here in the UK which has sparked more interest in remixing my work so expect some more from Indian producers from around the world in the coming months. This contrasts with how I promoted my first album A Sacred Bore mostly through relentless touring across the UK, Germany and Canada.
Also we're curious - are there any concert dates lined up for India in 2023?
It's a dream of mine to tour India but I'm still focusing on building momentum in the UK / North America before I work up to a tour in India. I'm having talks with some interested parties ahead of album three though so do watch this space!