Alokananda Dasgupta explores unfamiliar terrain for music of 'The Jengaburu Curse'

Alokananda Dasgupta on exploring tribal music for the series, The Jengaburu Curse

Alokananda Dasgupta musically weaves director Nila Madhab Panda’s dramatic tale, The Jengaburu Curse together. The recently released project is a story on the climate crisis and showcases a crime that threatens to wipe out the Bonda tribe of Odisha. 

Edited excerpts of the interview.

This show is different from the conventional ones that we are seeing. What made you agree to do this? 
Seventy per cent of my father’s work was based against the backdrop of Orissa. And from what I remember, I would accompany him for shoots around Bhubaneswar, and Balasore. I have a lot of childhood memories of Odisha. I was an Odissi dancer for a long time. So, I had this cultural affiliation, which was nostalgia. Also, I have never heard of a concept like this — a climate story [coming out of] a regional place in India. Lal Mati, the red soil, and the tribal [community] are what attracted me. 

Did you immediately know how to approach this project or did it take a while to understand this world?
My knowledge of Bengali music is different from my knowledge of Odisha  music, because they are different. Just because [they are] neighbouring states, it doesn’t imply that their music is similar. It’s similar, but it’s not the same. I realised that I was familiar with Chou naach and music. Baba used a lot of these folk songs in his films. But what we were dealing with was raw, and rooted. Obviously, it could not be designed such that the entire series would entail tribal music alone. But, at its crux, this is a regional story. I did a fair amount of research by listening to their collection. Their music had a lot of vocal inflections, and employed a number of instruments that were beyond my knowledge. I knew a gentleman, a dance, on whom my father had done a documentary. I called the people involved in that project, and they shared more material. It was an eye-opener to learn some of the things that I did. Speaking to people and learning about their dwindling tribal culture was crucial.

Representing a culture, musically, comes with its share of responsibilities. How do you tread the fine line between doing justice to them and making this palatable for the masses? 
Unfortunately, I’m too old to get excited by the grandeur of the production houses. For me, it’s about what I haven’t done before — the kind of work that will drag me out of my mundane [projects]. The concept of introducing or incorporating the music of the soil into something that is relatable to the audience was intriguing. I had one of my biggest tools of expression taken away from me here. My background is in Western classical music, so [I know] orchestration. Here, I knew that I couldn’t orchestrate this. I couldn’t express myself through a cello, violin, or piano. There are so many kinds of tribal flutes. So, the flute was my melodic crutch here. I used many kinds of flutes — tribal, raw and the clarinet. 

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