Shanka Tribe is quite familiar to independent music enthusiasts in India for their unique style — nature trance. The seven-piece band has been performing for over a decade across the country. After the success of their first single When Nature Calls, released last year, the band released Travelling Gypsies a few weeks ago.
Band members Munna P M, Joel Jackson P, Bonny Abraham, Nithin M Menon, Sreeraj K, Aswin Lal and Libin Noby, with their eclectic instruments like the didgeridoo (a wind instrument originally from Australia), oud, guitar, keyboard, bongo, conga, offer an unprecedented mix of tribal, folk trance music.
Travelling Gypsies begins with a tranquilising blend of the guitar and didgeridoo. Munna joins in, with a haunting vocal sample. Percussion and bass guitar soon slices into what is a liberating ensemble now. The way the band brings together modern and traditional elements of music — instruments and electronica — sets their language apart from their contemporaries. Also notable is the psychedelic stimulation it offers — the way it makes you sway. Digeridoo and hang drum is a combination that can bring about a subconscious shift in any listener.
“We have always wanted to be different from commercial electronic music. We wanted to prioritise instruments and make our music global. All seven band members come from different backgrounds and play different genres of music. But when we started jamming together, somehow our methods found a common ground in nature trance,” said Bonny Abraham who played guitar and oud (a string instrument with origins in the Middle East) for Travelling Gypsies.
The song is not a new one. “We came up with it during a travelling jam session in 2014, hence the name Travelling Gypsies. Over the years, as we performed it in various stages, we added and subtracted to give it new forms. It is the story of our journeys — individual and as a band,” says Bonny.
Shanka Tribe was formed in 2011. “Nithin and I joined the band in 2014 for a music festival in Bengaluru. Till then, we were in different bands, playing different types of music. All of us connected instantly through our love for music,” Bonny says. For years, the band played live shows and jammed.
“It was a struggle. But we didn’t want to bring out music without a clear plan. So, we waited and when the time was right, and we had enough tracks in our bank, we released our first song,” Nithin says. The song was produced by musician 6091. The video was directed by Jayesh Mohan and Munna.