Musician Joy Sarkar on his solo acoustic guitar album, Colourfully Blind

Making an album, creating and playing music that has his heart and soul, was something that musician Joy Sarkar had on his cards for the longest time, especially during and after the pandemic, when people were requesting him to play more of his solo strumming.

“But something or the other kept on happening, and I couldn’t get started with it until last year when I kind of pushed myself to start with it. Because if I don’t start at some point, I can never get the ball rolling,” says Joy.

Joy Sarkar on his acoustic solo guitar album, Colourfully Blind

We haven’t spotted an acoustic solo guitar album in recent times, especially from Bengal. So, we asked what the vibe of the album, Colourfully Blind, is like.

Joy says the album is mostly impromptu. “My studio is near my house. Every day, what I record would depend on my mood. On occasions, it has also happened that I have discarded the scratch because I did not like it later, or I couldn’t add to it because my mood changed,” says the musician for whom guitar has always been his first love.

“Being a musician-composer from India, the tracks are primarily guided by Indian classical music, with inspirations from western music here and there, and hints Simon, The Who, The Police, Madonna, Pat Metheny, Green Day, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Dream Theater, and Deep Purple. “When Ted responded to my emails, I knew I had to have Ted master the album, come what may. My battles were already half-won,” Joy remarks.

Joy belongs to a generation that has seen the evolution of cassettes, CDs, and the music streaming platforms of today. “Seeing your name on the printed cover of a cassette or a CD means a lot. With people queuing up for a cassette or catching a glimpse of the physical copies of your album stacked at stores, it was definitely very fulfilling, but you have to accept the change. Not just cassettes or CDs, I have also seen the era of LPs, thanks to my father, musician Sudhin Sarkar. So, change is inevitable; that isn’t the problem.

But, somehow, here people don’t really understand the concept of a music streaming platform. YouTube is their only option to listen to music, whereas it is a video streaming platform, and they don’t have very clear information as to where they can listen to music,” he exclaimed.

But does he also consider social media, especially Instagram, as a platform to popularise music, especially indie music? “Well, right now, I cannot ignore the role that social media plays in our lives. I t surely has an integral part to play in our lives, and I cannot deny that. But would we create music for social media? Never,” he concludes.

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