A five member musical arrangement, The Miliputs took to a number of new age experimentations to keep themselves busy over the past one year and a half. The band members, much like most city based musicians, engaged in digital shows and recording from a home-studio setup. Sharoni Poddar, one of the founding members reflects on how things have changed over the past few years and what keeps them inspired
What are some of your experiments when it comes to musical instruments and how did you ride the digital wave?
We at The Miliputs try to bring in an urbane touch to traditional folk music. I believe a majority of the younger generations condescend upon our musical heritage. Our experimentations with electric guitars, bass guitars and drums intrigue this age group to an extent where they start head-banging to our music. We at The Miliputs try to infuse classical elements into folk music as you will see in our performances of Bonde Maya Lagaise or Nodi Bhora Dheu. If I find any aspects of our music aligning with a Raga, I make sure to make a bandish out of the elements. This process has helped us carve our niche and stand out from other folk musicians.
For the first few months it was very depressing for all of us. We had to make the best out of the situations we were put through so eventually I started writing songs to which my fellow band-mates lent melodies to. This is something I never explored before yet we ended up releasing four originals over YouTube.
During this phase we saw a rise in numbers for digital concerts , and The Miliputs was one of the firsts to perform online along with Fossils & Rupankar Bagchi.
What were some of the challenges of Online concerts?
Arrangements for online concerts are immensely expensive and the pressure of selling tickets is on the artist. Connection lags and absence of a physical vibe is demotivating too. I believe after a point even the audience was bored of watching online concerts.
How are things looking up for The Miliputs post tumultuous times?
We released Bonde Maya Lagaise last month and one of our recent additions is the Bhule Jaowa Blues. The latter is a genre we have never worked with before yet has been exciting.
In terms of live concerts, we are packed for the month of December. I have been craving concerts as performing live is one of the greatest satisfaction for a musician. We will also be releasing folk songs like Krishno Kotha Pai Go and Buno Shwapnno over the next few months.