Eastern melodies

A growing audience for folk music fused with contemporary sounds is fuelling the current popularity of singers like Papon

It appears to be a good time to be an artiste marrying traditional music with the contemporary. Last year saw Coke Studio debuting in India (though comparisons with its Pakistani edition have been unfavourable), a variety of original musical collaborations emerged in the TV series Dewarists and after years of struggle, bands like Indian Ocean now get to play to packed houses.

Assamese singer Angaraag Mahanta, better known as Papon, would also agree. Papon has just released his debut album in Hindi titled The Story So Far after four years in the cold storage, during which the label that had signed him on went bankrupt. In the interim, other things changed, both for him and the industry. “At that time, there weren’t many companies willing to release non-film, non-devotional music. But now, also because I’ve built up my presence on the Internet and by collaborating with other artists like Midival Punditz, I had the choice of who to sign with,” says the artiste, who has already released six albums in Assamese.

Being the son of folk musicians Khagen and Archana Mahanta meant he was born into music, he says. “But I took it up as a profession much later. My parents were famous but I did not know whether I was good enough on my own.” So after school in Assam, it was off to Delhi to study architecture. The Delhi stint resulted, not in a degree in architecture, but in building his confidence in himself as a singer.

His first album, Jonaaki Raat, was released in 2004 and consisted of original compositions. Five more followed over the years, another original, and four folk albums, apart from various collaborations, some ad jingles and eventually, Bollywood. (Papon was the voice behind “Jiyein Kyun” in Dum Maaro Dum).

Though he may be identified with folk fusion, Papon refuses to be slotted into any genre. “I’m associated with ‘folktronica’ (folk with electronica) because that was a pioneering effort. People are surprised that a young artiste would work with folk, so that tends to get highlighted. But I would say I’m genre-free,” he says, pointing out that his earlier albums have rock and other influences.

The album makes for easy listening, though ironically, the tracks that stand out are the two in Assamese, particularly “Boitha Maro Re”. “Papon brings with him the flavour of the East — there is a lot of lyrical music in his songs. I would say his music is ‘populist folk’” says Mandar Thakur, COO of Times Music which finally released the album. He declines to reveal sales figures of the album, only saying that it has exceeded expectations.

Papon says he has several gigs, the second edition of Coke Studio India, and a collaboration with percussionist Bickram Ghosh and Scottish singer Rachel Sermanni lined up. But what he really wants to do, he says, is to run away to Kumaon. “I’ll just sit and look at the Himalayas,” he says.