Merchants bank on Bhoomi

BHOOMI IS out. Not earth.

Well, for those who have not heard of it till now, that is India's first `World Music' album from the Merchant stable. These are the music merchants, not the Ivory kind.

Salim and Sulaiman Merchant, composers, were in the city to talk about their venture, which took close to two years to get out of the record studios.

The arrangements are contemporary, but the feel is traditional, say the Merchant-composers.

The vocals are by Ustad Sultan Khan, Achyut Thakur, Narottam Das Baul, Zubeen Garg, Karsan Sagathiya, Seema Anil Saigal, Bhavdeep Jaipurwale. And guess who... Shubha Mudgal!

If you don't catch some (or most) of the lyrics, don't worry. You are not supposed to. It's in Brujbasha, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Dogri and Rajasthani - in that order. For convenience, you could even say that language is irrelevant. The music speaks...

Now, did we hear Lennon in the background. The Beatles man had believed that voice was just another instrument. That's the way - almost - that the Merchants have treated lyrics. The line you- don't-have-to- understand-the-lyrics is old. Actually, it is even infra dig to follow lyrics, hardcore musicians tell us.

It will still appeal to all types of listeners, because the music banks on that infinite quality of Indian folk - a soothing effect brought about by the mellifluous confluence of simple tunes handed down the ages.

For the Merchants too that was the difficult part. They too had only heard of most of the languages and were in no position to make out the lyrics. Hence, the song selection took a long time. Naturally, melody scored. The final selection of songs was made on the basis of how they sounded.

Some of India's leading musicians make the instrumentation, especially, the solo parts worth listening. Among those who have played instruments include Ronu Mazumdar (flute), Karl Peters (Keith's brother - on bass), Ulhas Bapat (santoor), Rajendra Singh (swarlin), Niladri Kumar (sitar), Kurt Peters (drums), Kalyana Barua (guitars) and of course, Ustad Sultan Khan (sarangi).

``It started out as a total drum and bass album,'' says Sulaiman. ``We are keen on doing something with a progressive sound, using authentic Indian music. Since the London Underground is creating quite a buzz, that's the natural direction we drifted in,'' he adds.

Enter Virgin records and the album firmed up. ``We sat a lot with Ustad Sultan Khan,'' says Salim. ``He's a storehouse of information on music and gave us some invaluable advice,'' he adds. They recorded the album over four months in Mumbai.

The World experience has changed them, the brothers say. It has given them quite a few ideas to work on. But much will depend on how `Bhoomi' does. ``That will determine the structure of the next project,'' says Sulaiman.

By R. K. Radhakrishnan

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