Get ready to be charmed by some fresh, acoustic songs on the mandolin and guitar, as famous mandolinist Diptanshu Roy and singer-songwriter Suren Vikhash, will be presenting the debut performance of their new music collaboration, Two Macha, at Alliance Française du Bengale, later this month.
Two Macha have come up with some fresh new folk songs, based on socially relevant issues, as well as some Kabir songs, which combines age-old tales of wisdom about life, love, and mankind. The event has been organised by Siddha Foundation: Live in Series and Calcutta Classical Guitar Society.
Diptanshu and Suren met at the Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh, a couple of years ago. "We had performed as part of different bands and I have always admired Diptanshu’s musicality ever since," says Suren, who is also a part of another band with Sofia Ashraf, called Mallipoo & the Alwas.
“Our songs have a social message, as we believe that music is a powerful medium, to bring about a positive change in the society,” he adds.
Their performance will comprise some unique songs in English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Kokborok, such as Yosane perusu, Kabir’s Man Masth Hua and others. Their recently released video-snippet, Yosane perusu, talks about the impact of the green revolution, and the present agricultural scenario in India. Another song is based on the problem of water crisis and questions whether there could be any solutions that human beings could come up with.
While most of the original tunes and lyrics have been written and composed by Suren, there are some lyrics which have been written in collaboration with lyricist and filmmaker CY Rathnakumar.
“Music is a universal language and even if you don’t understand the work at times, you do gather the essence of the song. Our focus is to create a new kind of music which can be enjoyed live,” says Diptanshu aka Dolinman who also plays with the world folk band, Fiddler’s Green.
“For me, music as an art form has a responsibility to ask questions; about the state of affairs in politics, or the places we are inhabiting. Any topic which is close to our heart, finds expression in our songs, but the writing process itself is very organic,” says Suren Vikhash, the composer.
"At present, we are concentrating on creating music that is fresh, raw and real. Sometimes with too much ornamentation, the soul of the song is lost,” points out Suren, who hails from Chennai, and travels all over the country, performing with various independent musicians.
At Alliance Française du Bengale, on May 20, at 7 pm