Over the next few weeks, we’re featuring the artists of Odd Measures Even-ing (taking place November 14th, 2019) in a series of interviews on our blog. Featuring seven exquisite acts, Odd Measures Even-ing showcases the myriad possibilities that open up when we tune in to that missed beat, or the not 'odd' at all. It’s an evening celebrating unusual time signatures from artistic traditions around the world, curated by Ritika Ganguly of The Cedar’s Artist Collective.
“Maybe it’ll get the audience to think that, “Okay, yeah, this is possible. I did not know that something like this exists before.” I think I’m hoping that they would be surprised a little.”
Next up is Shinjan, a software engineer, and a music enthusiast who grew up immersed in Indian semi-classical, Bengali folk and Baul, classic rock, blues, western folk, and country music. He is constantly exploring ways to amalgamate sounds from various origins to create his own style. Shinjan loves playing the flute, and has picked up different instruments at different points in his life. Of late, he is drawn into the simplicity of pairing fingerstyle guitar with voice. He spoke with Ritika Ganguly about his approach to “odd.”
Ritika Ganguly: What is “odd” to you about odd measures or how do you interpret odd?
Shinjan: To be technical, odd measures basically means something in an asymmetrical time signatures. It can be interpreted and implemented in various other ways, like through polyrhythmic and polymetric fashion.
One can take it to any length and make it as complex or simple as they want, but I think it works best when it works with the melody towards the purpose of the song and it is not the objective in itself. It demands more from the audience and also from the performers to compose and perform something and listen to something that is in odd measures because of the non-intuitiveness of it.
“The body doesn’t really play well with odd measures. It has to kind of break and to refocus itself every time the signature changes, and so it has to readjust a little bit. So we have to kinda focus more and concentrate more to get most out of the music. ”
Yeah, and all around us we are constantly just hearing things in even time, in common time, right? TV commercials, reality shows, everything is in common time and so...
The body doesn't really play well with odd measures. It has to kind of break and to refocus itself every time the signature changes, and so it has to readjust a little bit. So we have to kinda focus more and concentrate more to get most out of the music.
What are you planning for the showcase?
For the showcase, I'm planning to sing three songs in Bengali. These songs are from the soil of Bengal, and they are intertwined into the fabric of our culture. And what I'm trying to show is how uncommon and ubiquitous they are in our culture to have songs in different meters and different measures. I hope that the audience will feel that how seamless that experience is, that the non-intuitiveness doesn't cause you to really think too much. You'll be at home with that music. That’s what I'm trying to show.
And these three songs are songs that already exist in a particular tradition?
That is right, yes. These songs are not my own compositions, they already exist and they have been played for a long, long time. It's just my way of bringing it out to the world or in front of this audience here.
Rabindranath Tagore: polymath, poet, musician, and artist.
Talk to me a little bit about where these songs are generally sung, what is the geographical region or the cultural setting which contextualizes these songs?
So, one of the songs that I'm singing is a folk song, it's a traditional song and it comes from the northern part of Bengal and the sub-genre of that folk is called Bhawaiya. And it's a very soulful song about a friend missing another and we have played that in so many places. It's not confined to the northern part of Bengal anymore. We have grown up listening to it even in the southern part of Bengal. And I think a lot of people from other parts also would know those because this one is a very common song.
One of the other songs that I'm singing is written by Rabindranath Tagore, who was a Nobel laureate. He also wrote the national anthem of India and Bangladesh. I would just say, he's the person who taught us how to think locally and globally and cosmically at the same time. We grew up listening to and learning his songs. So, they are also very much an integral part of our growing up.
An example of Bhawaiya, courtesy of Nihar Adhikary
The third song is the one that I'm still ideating and I'm trying to understand what would fit into that framework the best. But the way I'm thinking is I'm gonna sing an urban folk song which is influenced from a song from here. The meter of the original song has also been transformed along with the melodic elements also. To me, that is my connection between the two worlds that I belong to, Minnesota and Bengal. But it's a much more recent song. I think it was written in the '90s, but the other songs are much older and so more traditional.
What do you think the audience will take away from the work you share?
Well, I'm coming with the assumption that a lot of people in the audience will not be initiated to this form of music, the way the melody is laid out, the way it works with the pattern, the time signature itself. And I understand that there is a language barrier there, but even other than that, I believe, circumventing that, I think the audience would be able to understand the congruency of the piece. How the odd meter works with the melody and the melody itself comes out of very much Indian roots. And so, I think they will be able to take something away from that.
“I think the audience will be able to understand the congruency of the pieces. How the odd meter works with the melody and the melody itself comes out of very much Indian roots.”
What do you hope the audiences will be experiencing? What kind of emotion?
I think what an audience takes away from a particular piece of art is very personal, but what I would try to showcase through those pieces is the soulful nature of the song, the beauty of the melody, the expanse of the entire range that it surpasses or sweeps across, and how it plays with the odd meter in such a way that it just goes well. Maybe it'll get the audience to think that, "Okay, yeah, this is possible. I did not know that something like this is possible or exists before." I think I'm hoping that they would be surprised a little.
If you could change one thing about the art scene in the Twin Cities or music in particular, what would that be?
I've not lived in Twin Cities for a really long time, but I feel that the Twin Cities has a very good musical culture. There is something for everybody, no matter what genre, or what kind of sub-culture that you're trying to find, you can find that here. What I personally feel is that I wish there were more music rooms which would exist for the sole purpose of bringing the artists and the musicians together, like listening rooms. More closed venues, which are not a bar, which are not meant for anything else, but for pure interaction between the musicians and the audience. There are a few, but I wish that was more accessible and it was in different neighborhoods and things like that.
And how long have you been in the Twin Cities?
A little over six years. But I've not been involved in the musical scene that much, for that long, so I'm still trying to find out what is out there. I'm trying to find venues and go to different places and see different performers, and see where things are at, really.
Given that you don't consider yourself to be in the music scene that much, would being part of this showcase sort of lead you to applying more to be in the core of the scene? Does this change anything for you?
I think. I'm trying to meet people all the time, I'm trying to find people who I can collaborate with. I think my ultimate target would be to find people who are like-minded, but also open, have some commonality when it comes to musical taste and background, but also have that willingness to learn from each other and to grow and maybe output something that is unique that way, where all the elements come together from different places. I've started that journey, I do not know exactly what it's gonna look like down the line, but this is definitely a good platform to meet people and to know about their musical backgrounds.
“I hope that the audience will feel that how seamless that experience is, that the non-intuitiveness doesn’t cause you to really think too much. You’ll be at home with that music. ”
THE ARTIST COLLECTIVE IS SUPPORTED BY:
