Composer Vipin Mishra at all times dreamt of mixing his two passions — music and journey exercise. Though he grew up on traditional rock bands, over time, he developed a liking for Indian music. It led him to come up with the docu-series Folkroad, which has Vipin and his workforce journey to Zanskar Valley in Ladakh seeking nomadic music. Riding his Honda Africa Twin Adventure bikes, the composer is joined by actor Satyadeep Mishra {and professional} photographer Abhay Singh, as they journey on bumpy filth tracks, keep in freezing tents, go to distant monasteries, witness flashy marriage ceremony capabilities and uncover new sounds.
Folkroad was lately premiered on the Red Lorry Film Festival in Mumbai. Says Vipin, “ Two episodes, which represent the basic theme of the series were screened. I plan to release it on YouTube.”
Artistes enjoying the Surna and the tabla-like percussion instrument
The workforce selected to journey to Zanskar Valley, which is situated at a excessive altitude as they needed to do one thing difficult. “We had not drawn any schedule. We took things as they came. The terrain was rough, and the music, raw,” says Vipin concerning the expertise.
The sequence was shot by two cameramen, Prabhdeep Singh and Ashish Sasane. The precise journey started at Manali in Himachal Pradesh, the place friends helped them with the logistics. “There were people who helped us with tents and food. From the musical point of view, we went there truly as seekers, with the hope that we’d eventually find something. I didn’t want to create content set up earlier. One of the recordings came from a wedding party, which we came across during our travel. So we just recorded music as we discovered it.”
According to Vipin, two sorts of devices are outstanding within the area. “One is the Surna, a piped instrument like the shehnai. The other is a percussion instrument called Daman. It resembles the tabla, but is played with sticks. They often wet the drum to get the right tone. It is made of yak skin and copper.”
The problem was to use these sounds and make them accessible to listeners. “Nomadic music is free-flowing. They don’t play in large ensembles, at least in Zanskar. The music doesn’t have a consistent tempo or structure. The singer may sing in one pitch but the Surna or Daman may be on another. But there are some brilliant compositions in these recordings. In the studio, I had to pull out those parts and place them in such a way that they came across like a song.”
Without tweaking the sound a lot, Vipin added some synthesisers within the studio. He says, “I didn’t want to use acoustic instruments, which is what often happens with folk music. I wanted to give a fresh flavour. It isn’t entirely electronic, but has a fair amount of synths. The music will be released on streaming platforms.”
For recording, Vipin carried his MacBook Pro, Shure microphones, cables, microphone stands and a few exhausting drives, but it surely was the Zoom H6 transportable recorder which got here in actually helpful. The Manali logistics firm sorted their meals and keep, carrying rations, tent materials, thermal put on and different requirements in a jeep.
Vipin with Satyadeep.
Satyadeep loved the expertise totally. He recollects, “I was the last man to be part of this series. Vipin and Abhay had put things in place. I was just looking for a window when I was not occupied with my regular work, and this suited me. Any trip that involves riding motorcycles is fun. And this was Zanskar and there was the added element of discovering new music.”
Naturally, such an journey would contain some fascinating anecdotes. Satyadeep talks of Lingshed, which has a monastery. “We reached there before sunset and realised there was no place to stay. Finally we found a house with an open space outside. There was nobody there. Later, the owner came with her kids and was shocked to find our motorcycles. She allowed us to stay. The next day, her brother-in-law, who was a monk at the monastery, found us a place.”
Vipin mentions one other incident after they trekked 5 to six kilometres to the Phuktal monastery, hoping they might discover some musicians. “The entire place was deserted. There were just two boys, who said an annual holiday happens at that time, and people would return only after 10 days. But we were happy just to be in that beautiful monastery all on our own.”
Sounds of the Himalayas
Having completed Season 1 of Folkroad in Zanskar, Vipin plans to head to Arunachal Pradesh for the following spherical of musical discovery. He says that will take time, because it requires funding. At the second, music lovers can uncover some fabulous sounds from the Himalayas, with scenic mountain locales including to the ambiance.
