Monday, January 7, 2013

Bhojpuri Queen in Coke Studio@Mtv India season 3.


Bhojpuri Queen Kalpana Patowary played her first headlining show at Blue Frog, Mumbai, last year, after several early sets and vocal showcases. If you attended the NH7 Weekender festival in Pune earlier this year end 2012, you might have recognized the Bhojpuri Queen as the flamboyant front woman of the Trilok Gurtu’s band. Kalpana was introduced by Trilok Gurtu to the huge new crowd at Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune November 2012(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lpLou4dEy0), which is the biggest & happiest Indie music festival in India. 6 solos songs – and that was it! She got an overwhelmingly positive response from the audience and the crew alike – both for Indo – Africa groovy music and for her body language in traditional Naga attire.
                                       
Kalpana’s songs demonstrate a range of shades and temperaments. Very few people know that Kalpana Patowary is as versatile that she justifies or renders both in raw folk forms as well as western singing. Kalpana Patowary’s music genre is about primitive-acoustic folk with some trace of Indian classical music, ambient electronic and new age jazz - fusion.

Her first language is Assamese but she sings in Bhojpuri, Hindi, Bengali, English & 25 other languages with around 9000 songs to her credit.

As she says, at first let me express my gratitude to the Lord for giving me the opportunity to explore this planet Earth as an artiste, a musician celebrating diversity and celebrating originality as a featured artist…this is what I felt and realized in the third season of Coke Studio @ Mtv.(airing this 28th September2013.
              
Coke Studio has always been big in my mind and I have been following the show since its launch in Pakistan, and both seasons of the Indian edition were excellent. I hail from Assam geographically…Very much influenced by the bard of Bramhaputra - Dr Bhupen Hazarika I moved to Mumbai with high hopes…and one fine day I find myself ruling the hearts of the heartland of India (UP & Bihar).  Bhojpuri, a lokbhasha or folklore spoken in 14 nations all over the world and in major towns, cities of India, is widely spoken in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and some parts of Madhya Pradesh.I got the opportunity to explore it and during its course tried to feel the pulse of my rural India, its society, civilization and culture. Then I got to know about the "Shakespeare  of Bhojpuri Literature“Bhikhari Thakur ,best known for the creation of the twentieth century theatre form “Bidesia”. Bhikari Thakur was a barber (a backward Caste) who abandoned home and hearth to form a group of actors who dealt with issues of confrontation: between the traditional and the modern, between urban and rural, between the haves and the have-nots. Appreciative native Bhojpuri audiences consider Bhikari Thakur as the incomparable founder father, propagator and exponent par excellence of this form. I researched and captured   the legend musically to introduce to the world and ‘The Legacy of Bhikhari Thakur’ happened.

I feel blessed to have been born in a country that speaks so many different languages and dialects.  In Mumbai, diction was a problem at first being from Assam. But by God’s grace I proved myself in the Bhojpuri language which is even more problematic. That's what worked in my favor. I am one of the few luckiest artists who get invited to Kashmir as well as to Kanyakumari, from Gujarat to Assam, only because I sing in 25 different languages till now.Every language has its own vibrations….but today I am not here to render Assamese or Bhojpuri stuff..East India Company(EiC) planned a royal Rajasthani tour for myself..time to re-live my Famina..this time with Rajasthani gestures!


Watch Kalpana Patowary’s  performance in Mtv Coke Studio Season 3.

Contact: MUSICBOX, contactmusicbox@gmail.com, imkalpanapatowary@gmail.com, Tel. ++91 9821437026. 

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