Streets of Kolkata • "Manyota dao Jibonke" • Casey Driessen & Arko Mukhaerjee [OTHERLANDS: India] 

This recording is the 14th in a new multi-episode project by Casey Driessen titled - OTHERLANDS: A Global Music Exploration.
LOCATION: Kolkata, India
DATE: Jan. 14, 2020
CREDITS
Song: Manyota dao Jibonke (Arko Mukhaerjee)
Recorded at: Blue Monk Studio, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Recorded by: Tirthankar Ray
Music Arranged by : Casey Driessen & Arko Mukhaerjee
Voice & Balalaika: Arko Mukhaerjee
Fiddle, Video & Audio Mixing: Casey Driessen
Calligraphy: Subrata Ghosh
Special Thanks: Koustav Dey & Billy Cardine
EQUIPMENT
The following Shure microphones were used in the making of this collaboration. If you’re interested in learning more and/or purchasing one, please use the links below. This helps to support the music I make. Thank you.
Shure KSM141 [small diaphragm condenser] (amzn.to/3bjbQ1U)
Shure MV88+ [stereo video mic] (amzn.to/3bftnZ5)
Shure A53M [shock stopper] (amzn.to/2Ox3hqx)
ABOUT THE COLLABORATION
Arko and I first met over tea at cafe in Kolkata. This was early on in my arrival to India. A few days later, he invited me to join his band, the Arko Mukhaerjee Collective, for a concert at a local university. He is a trained Hindustani (North Indian Classical) singer who also led a bluegrass band for ten years and loves to sing Irish ballads. His music is rooted in folk music from West Bengal and includes both originals and traditional numbers. I took him up on the gig, got in some good greenroom jamming, and ended up playing on stage for the whole evening. A couple days after the concert, we planned to meet at a friend's recording space, Blue Monk Studio, to record a song for my project.
**To learn more about Arko's music and projects, please visit the link(s) of your choice:
IG: ( / arkomukhaerjeeoriginal )
FB: ( / arkomukhaerjee )
Web: (arkomusic.com/)
RU-vid: ( / arkomkz )
On the day of the recording, I meet Arko at another cafe. Over coffee in the courtyard, we play through the tune for the day. It's an original that, if I understand correctly, is about living a good life and respecting life-and this is an equally acceptable way to reach the next stage in life, in addition to the path of progress achieved by religious means.
We do 2-3 takes and all are quite long, with morphing vibes, arrangements, and improvisation. It's challenging to get back to that first feeling at the cafe, and I'm doing a lot of searching/improv on my part. Some real great moments happen, but there's not a winner take yet. We talk about how you can get stuck in your head, overthinking, in the studio, with cameras watching. We take a break and come back, agreeing to try different things and just let go. The take is much more locked in throughout, more energy, more dynamic. I try to catch harmonies with his vocal melody, try to answer, sometimes finding Indian "inflection" inspired by the gamakas (ornamentation) I've been hearing, and trying not to get in the way of his lyric. The last take does feel like a great conversation. This is the one.
As we pack up, Arko hatches a plan to record another tune in a few days, this time one for him. He has a series of videos filmed on his rooftop during the sunrise hours. So, we meet again, with percussionist Sounak Roy, and record a beautiful medley of Rongila (from Bengali tradition) and Little Girl of Mine in Tennessee (from American tradition). • Rongila | My Little Gi... .
If you’d like to read more about our collaboration, please visit:
www.caseydriess...
To follow along the OTHERLANDS project, please visit:
OTHERLANDS Webpage (www.CaseyDriess...)
Instagram ( / caseydriessen ,
Facebook ( / caseydriessen ,
or this RU-vid channel.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
OTHERLANDS: A Global Music Exploration follows GRAMMY-nominated 5-string American fiddler Casey Driessen as he travels with his family to various countries across the globe to meet with local acoustic-based musicians with roots in their own traditions. Musical exchanges and travels are documented via audio, video and photography elements with collected materials released over the course of the project via his website and social media outlets and official musical releases likely to come at the end of travels.
OTHERLANDS is an independently designed and produced project that is self-contained with a small collection of audio and video equipment. All engineering and recording, including any post-production, can be set up, operated, and completed by Casey wherever on the globe he happens to be.
For more information and to follow the project, please visit - www.CaseyDriess...